"I guess it has something to with the fact that both of my parents are judges," said the 25-year-old new lawyer before he and classmates Solomon Lumba, who placed fourth, and Ma. Theresa Ballelos, who placed sixth, were honored at their alma mater, the state university’s College of Law.
Ponferrada, who works for the Sycip, Hernandez, Gatmaitan law offices, has always been at the top, said his father Rodolfo Sr., who is presiding judge at the Manila regional trial court branch 54.
"But I left him to his own devices, even discouraged him from taking up law," said the judge, an alumnus of San Beda College. "I told him law doesn’t pay well."
Judge Ponferrada’s wife, Thelma, who also studied at UP, is presiding judge at the Quezon city regional trial court branch 104.
The young Ponferrada, nicknamed Pong, topped his management honors class at the Ateneo in college, graduating magna cum laude, and was class valedictorian of the UP College of Law Class 2001. He is a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity.
"He’s kind. He studied on his own. He asked us questions sometimes, but he was independent. Sarili lang niya ang aral niya. He attends classes religiously. We were very happy when we learned that Pong topped the bar," said Mrs. Ponferrada of her eldest.
Pong’s younger siblings include Ma. Carmela, 23, a licensed chemist now taking up medicine at UST; Regi, 21, a senior industrial engineering student at UP; and Rodney, a junior ECE student at UP.
Pong confided he didn’t know how to make his own schedule while reviewing for the state-administered bar examinations so he followed his classmate Pilar Pilares’ review schedule. "But one thing I tell you, I don’t take examinations without having a good night’s sleep. Cramming is not my cup of tea."
He would like to teach in the near future. "UP has taught me a lot," he said. "My training here has taught me how to deal with problems in everyday life systematically."
Like his fellow topnotchers Lumba and Ballelos, he considers the Estrada plunder cases a big challenge for new lawyers like him but for the brouhaha it has stirred up. "I wouldn’t want to plunge into a sea of political controversy," he said.
Former UP Law Dean Pacifico Agabin, a former counsel for ousted President Joseph Estrada, said he personally would not want to see UP’s Bar topnotchers joining the Estrada defense team as yet. "They still need to develop the competence that veterans took many years to develop."
Agabin said that new lawyers would do well to master new fields of law which have been emerging because of globalization. "The world is changing fast, and new fields of law are opening up, especially in labor and commerce," said the former dean who now teaches constitutional law and legal ethics.
During the testimonial, UP Law dean Dr. Raul Pangalangan reminded the new UP lawyers of the responsibilities that go along with their education at the state university. "(We take pride) in training our students in the mastery of craft and doctrine and of applying doctrine to many issues," he said.
There was much celebration at the 98-year-old law school yesterday. "In the last eight years, UP has been performing well in the bar exams," said college secretary Patricia Rosalind Salvador Daway.
Since 1994, UP has copped the top spot in the bar exams, excepting in 1998, when the Baguio Colleges Foundation stole the honors. This year UP posted a passing rate of 97.73 percent –only two of 86 members of the graduating class did not make the grade. — With Delon Porcalla
For complete results of the Bar Exams, click here.