By: David Ballesteros

Finding jurisprudence and legal journal articles from foreign sources is now made easy. Starting June of this year, the academic community of Arellano University School of Law can now avail of the resources of Westlaw, considered as the industry leader in online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United Sates and other countries.

Westlaw gives subscribers unique search technologies and tools that help them find, understand and apply the law and legal concepts. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 23,000 databases of case law, state and federal statutes, administrative codes, newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law journals, law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other information resources.

Access to Westlaw is available to faculty members and enrolled students of AUSL through the Arellano Local Area Network in the campus. Subscribing to Westlaw affirms AUSL’s commitment to be at the forefront of specialized legal education and research.

By: D. Ballesteros

Commissioner Josue A.  San Pedro, a member of the Arellano Law Foundation Board of Trustees and former Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, said his last good bye on 26 May 2008. He was 71.

Commissioner San Pedro graduated from the law school in 1962. He taught Insurance, Agency, Transportation, Criminal Procedure, Administration Law and Remedial Law.

The Arellano Law community sponsored a mass in his memory on 27 May 2008 at Loyola Memorial Chapel, Guadalupe Makati.

By D. Ballesteros

Dean Eduardo V.  Alejandro, a member of the Arellano Law Foundation Board of Trustees and former Dean of the Arellano University School of Law Bataan, bid his last farewell on 3 May 2008. He was 56.

Dean Alejandro graduated from the law school in 1984. He taught Persons and Family Relations, Obligations and Contract, Property, Partnership, Civil Law I and II.

The Arellano Law community sponsored a mass in his memory on 7 May 2008 at Funeraria Paz, Araneta Avenue.  

391 aspirants to the law profession are enrolled in the Arellano Law Foundation’s 2008 Bar Review Program, according to data provided by the Records Section of the Arellano University School of Law School. Of the said enrollees, 92 are alumni.

In 2007, there were 404 enrollees, of which 127 were alumni. Of the 127 alumni who enrolled, 53 passed the 2007 Bar Examinations.

The Bar Review Program commenced last 17 April 2008, and lectures are held Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It is administered by the Center for Legal Education and Research, with Dean Jose R. Sundiang as Review Director.   

Samira Ali Gutoc-Tomawis, founding editor of both the Arellano Law and Policy Review and the Arellano Law Gazette and columnist of the Manila Times, added another feather to her cap when she became one of the finalists in the Aim High Pinay women empowerment campaign of popular consumer  brand Modess.

This was disclosed by Ms. Gutoc-Tomawis herself in an exclusive interview with the Arellano Law Today last 30 April 2008. The story of Ms. Gutoc-Tomawis and the rest of the finalists were featured in a special supplement of the Philippine Daily Inquirer last 4 April 2008. Winning stories will be chosen to be featured in the next Modess TV commercial, and will win a financial grant.

The campaign encourages women to overcome barriers in order to achieve their goals and to continue to aim for more and be better, as the stories of the finalists from different fields have amply shown. In the campaign profile, Ms. Gutoc-Tomawis was described to have set out to become a living example of professional and civic leadership for the Muslim community, and has succeeded at it.

It has been several days since I learned that I will have the honor of speaking before you today. I will be honest and tell you that even as I sat in front of my computer at two o’clock this morning, I am still uncertain of where my address is headed. So I decided to just let my thoughts flow through in the hope that it will all make sense in the end.

To the graduates, I know you’re hungry. I will be brief. I promise.

Today, we are gathered to celebrate another milestone in our life – our graduation. It is an occasion of joy and thanksgiving. But apart from me, I know that there are 107 other souls who are feeling mixed emotions. For we all know that this is not the end of our journey. The greatest challenge is yet to come. In the next six months, nothing will consume our minds and our hearts than the thought of September 2008, when we face the most difficult test of our academic life.

I want to be sincere and tell you exactly how I feel. I am scared. Just the thought of the BAR exams sends cold shivers down my spine.

But I refuse to be trampled by these feelings of anxiety, so I listed three important points that I think will help me overcome them. If you will allow me, I would like to share them with you.

1. Brave your fears - I’ll let you in on a secret, a secret that I shared with Sir Bubut yesterday. For several months now, I have been seriously thinking of deferring taking the bar exams. I was afraid that current problems in the family and the adversities of life will cause too much distraction. I was afraid that I will not be able to prepare well for the Bar exams. It was only last Tuesday, April 8, that I finally decided to go for it, but not after sleepless nights, buckets of tears and conversations with God in prayer. My fellow graduates, I know that like me, you have your own share of fears and apprehensions. Together, let us be bold and face them.
2. 2. Arm yourself – with adequate knowledge, with ample wisdom, and bags of self confidence. Study well and aim to be the best.
   It is never wrong to excel. It is never arrogance to aim for the top. Indeed there is wisdom in what Les Brown said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”. To the graduates, I pose this challenge - let us all aim to be the moon and make it a very bright sky for Arellano when the results come in by 2009. I know you’re with me on that.
3. Reflect in prayer – A few years ago, I won’t tell you exactly how long as you might compute for my age, I graduated from St. Scholastica’s College with a very important lesson – that is in everything you do, do it in faith, regardless of your religion. Live by the Benedictine value of Ora et Labora - work, or study for that matter, like everything depended on you, pray like everything depended on God.

Brave your fears. Arm yourself. And Reflect in prayer. These are my potent weapons as I prepare for the Bar examinations. It is not accidental that these spelled B-A-R; I did it on purpose, well, for what my good friend Mr. Badon would probably call dramatic effect. But in my humble opinion, these accurately summarize what we as barristers need to do in the coming months. It takes the B-A-R to prepare for the BAR.

So am I not scared anymore? Oh, I still am, but I am confident that I will pull it through. We will pull it through.

On behalf of the 2008 graduates, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude:

• to the members of the Board of Trustees of the Arellano Law Foundation and the Arellano Law administration – thank you for always taking time to listen to our concerns. I would also like to personally thank the members of the Board of Trustees for my scholarship during my stay at the Arellano University.
• to the members of the Faculty – I know that it is very difficult to be a professor and that it could sometimes be frustrating, with countless mediocre recitations and failed examinations. But know that we recognize your efforts to give us the best education and shape us into competitive lawyers in the future. For that, we will be forever grateful.
• to our beloved parents and family members – words alone will not suffice to express our gratitude for what you have done for us. Thank you for the love and concern, the unsurpassed understanding and the countless sacrifices you unselfishly gifted us all these years. Thank you for putting up with our weaknesses and mood swings. Please understand that sometimes, the pressure just gets into us. But we love you, dearly!
• to my friends, classmates and fellow graduates, I want you to know that I cherish the warmth of your friendship, your acceptance of my person and the trust and understanding you have given me. Thank you for the intelligent and not so intelligent discussions, the words of encouragement, the helping hand, the sample exams, the whispers during recitation that I’m certain the professors could hear, the little conversations inside the classroom and at the hallways, the laughter and the tears, the silly jokes told in secret, sometimes even during class hours. All these made law school life more beautiful and meaningful. All these, I will treasure for a lifetime. Indeed, I am very proud to belong to this batch.

Before I end, I would like to ask my fellow graduates to please close their eyes and join me in prayer.

“Heavenly Father, the inexhaustible source of grace, wisdom and love, thank you for this day – for the wonderful gift of our graduation. Continue to guide us while we prepare for the more difficult challenge awaiting us in September 2008. Give us enough strength and perseverance to pursue our dream of becoming a lawyer.

Lord, keep us always faithful to you and help us trust that whatever happens at the end of this journey is in accordance to your will.

We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.”

Congratulations my fellow graduates. Let us all walk tall and proud to La Salle in September 2008!

God Bless!

Cheryll Grace H. Montealegre
Arellano University School of Law
Class Valedictorian
Batch 2008

“Brave your fears. Arm yourself. Reflect in prayer.” These are the Bar Examinations pointers Cherryll Grace H. Montealegre, Arellano University School of Law 2008 Class Batch Valedictorian, shared with her fellow graduates at the 70th commencement exercises of the Arellano University School of Law (AUSL) held at the Grand Ballroom of the Century Park Hotel, Manila last April 12, 2008. 107 other graduates joined her at the commencements ceremonies, with Supreme Court Associate Justice and former AUSL Dean Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura as guest of honor.

Ms. Montealegre, a working student and a scholar of the Arellano Law Foundation Board of Trustees, also finished cum laude A member of the Order of the Flaming Arrows (OFA), AUSL’s honor society, she also received the Chairman Florentino Cayco Jr. Award, which is given to a student who has shown exemplary academic performance during her stay in the law school.

Meanwhile, Elmer P. Damasco and Alvin B. Tanguanco graduated as Salutatorian and 1st Honorable Mention, respectively. Rose Anne P. Rosales, Chairperson of the 2007 Bar Operations Commission, is this year’s Leadership Awardee.

For a complete list of graduates, click here.

For the full text of the valedictory address of Cherryll Grace H. Montealegre, click here.

Complete list of awardees