2 law firms’ underbars score 100% passing rate

Law graduates at two prestigious law firms in Makati scored a 100 percent passing average in the 2007 Bar.

The underbars at the Villaraza, Cruz, Marcelo and Angangco as well as at the Sycip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan law firms all passed the examinations.

“We are very proud of this achievement,” former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo – who recently returned to private practice after his stint in government – told The STAR in a phone interview.

“The result of the recent Bar examinations is but a continuation of this proud and exclusive tradition. All of the firm’s 12 underbars were among the 1,289 examinees that made the grueling cut to lawyerhood,” the law firm said in a statement.

Every year, the firm’s hiring committee – composed of partners Augusto San Pedro, Manuel Manaligod Jr., Susan Villanueva and Aida Araceli Roxas-Rivera – experience the same kind of pressure as the Bar examinees, as if they themselves were to take the examinations.

Marcelo was particularly elated with the success of one of their underbars, Sheryl Ann Tizon, who placed seventh. The 24-year-old Tizon graduated in the top 10 of her class at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

She completed her undergraduate course in just three years, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from UP Diliman.

She was a consistent honor student from grade school to high school in La Consolacion College in Manila.

All 20 underbars – 18 of them women – at Sycip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan also hurdled the exams.

Mercedita Ona’s failure to pass the UP Law Aptitude Examination didn’t hamper the Bar topnotcher’s ambition. She eventually graduated from the Ateneo law school.

Ona, 27, who hails from San Jose, Batangas, graduated cum laude in 2002 at UP, where she took Business Administration and Accountancy.

“Di naman loss ito para sa UP (It’s not a loss for UP),” she told The STAR.

“Pinatawad ko na silang lahat. Hindi rin naman ito sweet revenge. (I’ve forgiven them. Neither is this sweet revenge). It is really a blessing, and it only proves that everything has a purpose. God has a plan for you.”

Ona is now an associate at the Sycip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan law firm in Makati, where she intends to stay “for a while.”

She also has plans of getting married, raising children and managing their farm in San Jose, Batangas.

For the long term, however, Ona said she has plans of starting an Italian restaurant.

“I plan to expand our farm, but I also want to start an Italian restaurant,” she said. “I love Italian food and eating.”

Ona said she will focus on corporate law when she starts her practice.

“I like corporate law because it has a very broad scope,” she said.

Ona said her topping the Bar examinations proves that more women are now excelling in the field of law.

“This is because women are more diligent and are more focused on their goals,” she said. “There are now more women who want to become lawyers.”

As for the SC’s reported plan to look into the curriculum of law schools, Ona said there was nothing wrong with it as it would boost the competency of law schools and make law education in the Philippines at par with other countries.

The Municipality of San Jose, Batangas will be recognizing Ona’s feat.

In a telephone interview, Joner Agbing, first councilor of San Jose, said the municipal council would be coming out with a resolution honoring Ona. — Delon Porcalla