Bittersweet at Testimonial Dinner

Feeling happiness despite the pain- perhaps that would be the best feeling that could describe how I felt for the past two testimonial dinners of the University of Pangasinan College of Law.

HAPPINESS. I admire these new lawyers for their courage and for their determination to finish law and to pass the bar. The Testimonial Dinner was full of inspiring stories that would boost the morale of law students present that night. Thinking that these new lawyers were the ones we cheered and prayed for during the Bar Operations last November 2016, it also felt like I was with them during that gruesome four-Sunday exam.

DIFFICULTY. It cannot be denied that the Bar Examination is one of the most difficult examinations in the country. Not only intellectually, but it is more of psychologically, emotionally, and financially- challenging.

Attorney Fausto Villanuea, Jr. shared that he even experienced hearing a voice while walking in an overpass that pushes him to jump over it. That statement was really psychologically and emotionally bothering! He said that he immediately went home after that incident and went to church.

Atty. Fausto Villanueva, Jr. Photo from Rogelio Garcia.

Attorney Lesli Villanueva-Apostol said that it took her two years after graduation to taking the bar exams. She shared that she was pregnant in her first attempt but just focused on taking care of her baby first. While taking the bar last year, she was five-month pregnant. I cannot imagine the difficulty of focusing on two things at the same time- taking care of the baby on her womb and reviewing for the bar.

Atty. Lesli Villanueva-Apostol. Photo from Rogelio Garcia.

Most of the bar passers this year from UPang College of Law were working while studying during their time in law school. It is inspiring for some of us who are also working in pursuit of our dreams.

SADNESS. Despite my happiness for these new lawyers even during the Bar Ops, I cannot help but feel sadness inside. I was thinking about the time when I will also be taking the Bar Exam and the time when I will be delivering my testimonial. I thought that I will never have the opportunity to share it with my father, my number one fan.

My dad and I during my University graduation
at UP Diliman in 2012. 

Wherever he is now and whatever my fate will be come my Bar exam, I am definitely sure that he'll be cheering for me, praying for my success.


To all new lawyers and organizers of the Testimonial Dinner 2017, congratulations!