‘Topping Bar greatest tribute to my father’

For Ateneo de Manila University’s "dark horse," Aeneas Eli Diaz, topping the 2003 Bar is probably the biggest tribute he can give his late father and an aunt he has always admired and wanted to emulate.

"This is an honor to my father. I’ve always dreamed of being a lawyer. I always look up to him," Diaz said. His father, Elizalde Diaz, served as acting governor of Sorsogon during the Aquino administration.

Diaz, 25, said he lost his father when he was a sophomore in law school. He was able to go on until, in September last year, his favorite aunt was ambushed and killed at the same time he was taking the Bar.

Lilia Diaz was working as assistant general manager for finance and administration at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport when she was killed. She was 47. NAIA officials said she had been receiving death threats due to her efforts to stop irregularities in a sensitive government facility.

The younger Diaz said he considered stopping his studies because of the incident. He had to deliver the eulogy for his aunt before the second Sunday of the Bar in September. "It was very difficult," he said.

Diaz, however, appeared unaffected and unassuming when reporters interviewed him in front of the Supreme Court building Friday night. He said he never really expected to become the Bar topnotcher but admitted acting crazy inside the cinema after learning that he passed.

"It came as a big surprise. I somehow felt I would make it but topping the exams was unexpected. In fact, I learned about it at 7 p.m., when I saw I had 77 missed calls... I realized I passed the Bar," Diaz said. "I actually made a scene at the cinema. I was shouting, from the cinema to the parking lot."

Diaz considered himself a dark horse because he was ranked 14th in class. He received a medal of excellence in recognition of his academic ranking, but this did not give him enough confidence to dream of being the Bar topnotcher.

He was a consistent honor student at La Salle Greenhills, where he finished his elementary and high school education. He then took up business economics at the University of the Philippines and graduated cum laude.

Diaz said he may be competitive and driven, but is not hard on himself. "I took my studies seriously but I still went out with friends. I watch movies. I was never nervous. I did not want to be so anxious because I would forget that I had studied. I was relaxed, composed and was even having fun and exchanging jokes with the other examinees," he told The STAR.