UST Law dean re-elected law schools group president

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) re-elected dean Nilo Divina of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law as president during its annual conference in Hong Kong last December.

During his first term, Divina introduced several pioneering changes in the association’s activities and headed reforms to further improve law school instruction among more than 100 law schools.

The reforms he instituted include the conference on legal education and ASEAN integration in Hong Kong, the group’s first international conference; a centralized bar exam aid kit made available to all law schools; a training program that includes seminars for law professors held in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; and greater and more frequent engagements with the Supreme Court and government agencies whose tasks include shepherding Philippine legal education.

The reforms were intended to make legal education more socially relevant and meaningful, Divina said.

Also elected as officers and trustees were deans Amado Valdez, chairman emeritus; Ernesto Maceda, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, chairman of the board; Ma. Soledad Mawis, Lyceum of the Philippines, executive vice president; Danilo Concepcion, University of the Philippines, secretary general; Sed frey Candelaria, Ateneo De Manila University, deputy secretary general and vice president for Metro Manila; Pauline Grace Alfuente, University of Iloilo, treasurer; Ferdinand Tan, San Sebastian College Recoletos, assistant treasurer; Marie Joy Salgado, St. Mary’s University, vice president for Luzon; Zacarias Bedona Jr., Central Philippine University, vice president for Visayas, and Josefe  Sorrera-Ty, Father Saturnino Urios University, vice president for Mindanao.

Re-elected members of the board of trustees were: deans Perry Pe, Palawan State University; Emerson Aquende, Aquinas University; Joan Largo, University of San Carlos; Jonathan Capanas, University of San Jose Recoletos; Zacarias Bedona Jr., Central Philippine University; Josefe Sorrera-Ty, Fr. Saturnino Urios University; Macacuna Moslem, Mindanao State University; Manuel Quibod, Ateneo De Davao; Raul  Villanueva, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, and Baldomero Estenzo, University of Cebu.