PAGLINAWAN, Malaya Pilipina C. Atty.

Rowena Soriano

Leg Prof – Sec 3 Nov. 23, 2019

What constitutes practice of law in the first place? According to the case of Cayetano vs.
Monsod, the Court held that "practice of law" means any activity, in or out of court, which requires
the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge, training and experience. To engage in
the practice of law is to perform acts which are usually performed by members of the legal
profession. Legal Profession is a noble profession, and the privilege to practice it is bestowed only
upon individuals who are competent intellectually, academically and morally. As midterm a part
of the subject, we are required to go to a law firm and do court visit to observe what actually they
are doing or what it looks like actually inside a law firm or court. Law firm is a legal office which
serves legal cases regarding Labor, Criminal and Civil cases. We went to a law firm in Manila; the
law firm of Atty. Diwa. They handled civil cases, criminal cases, but most handled cases were
labor cases since that is the specialization of Atty. Diwa. There are other persons involved in his
firm which are Ms. Elsa Aboy the Secretary for civil and criminal cases, she is the one who gather
the data and information for the said cases and Ms. Mae Dabu for labor cases, Mr. Rodolfo Ladio
the Deputy Secretary General and Atty. Bayani Diwa – Lawyer. The latter were in long haul of
practice since Ms. Elsa said that “ah, matagal tagal na, mga nineteen seventies pa.” and Atty.
Diwa is the only lawyer in the firm, and he is even the one that makes some of the pleadings all
by himself. The clients who wants to inquire or consult about their legal problems, they must call
or set for an appointment to Ms. Elsa and she will schedule it when is the lawyer available and he
has no court hearing on the scheduled date. She said that the client must ready all the necessary
documents, for example labor case, the client must bring the time slip, pay slip etc. all related
documents because that will be the basis if the client has a violation in his or her company. On
civil cases, most of it are land titles, property titles, etc. Ms. Elsa also mentioned that they handled
annulment cases however, it is a long process. All mentioned cases should have a strong and
complete set of evidence. Moreover, Mr. Ladio said that they cater cases of laborers who got
terminated, abused or violation of human rights, criminal cases, civil cases on land, property,
family problems. His role is a paralegal especially on labor cases. We asked about what is the most
challenging case that he handled, he answered labor cases. The following are: Illegal dismissals,
violation of rights of the laborers like right to self-organizations, contractualization. They also
organize labor unions, labor associations, he also said that he sometimes represents the lawyer in
criminal and civil cases when the lawyer is busy. He told us that paralegals have their limitations
as well, which the law stipulated and it should be followed. In the case of Ulep vs. Legal Clinic
Inc., there are five things a Philippines Paralegal cannot do are: 1.Cannot give legal advice;
2.Cannot develop the lawyer-client relationship; 3.Cannot sign papers on behalf of the clients;
4.Cannot represent a client in court; 5.Cannot set and collect legal lawyer fees. These functions are
considered the practice of law.

Furthermore, Mr. Ladio even if he is not a college graduate, but because of experience, he is
now almost forty years rendering legal service in the firm; until he learned how to deal with lawyers,
appear in court, deal with some government agency. He is also a technical executive committee of
Department of Labor. Though, he did not learn in a formal way, he acquires skills in his experience
and through the practice in his everyday work. Sadly, we didn’t meet Atty. Diwa probably he has a
commitment that day.

Moving on, we visited a court in Biñan, the Regional Trial Court Branch 153. We’ve
observed a court hearing from two judges. One is Judge Vernard Quijano who are in charge on the
civil cases and the other one is Judge Noel Villamonte for criminal cases. The case for civil was the
petition for judicial declaration of nullity of marriage. The lawyer just stated the facts; the parties
acquired real property, they were living separately and both are suffering from psychological
incapacity and who shall have the full custody on their son which is twelve years old. As I’ve learned
in my Persons and Family Relations psychological incapacity is a person’s inability to comply with
his (or her) marital obligations to his (her) spouse and can be a ground for annulment for it must
be it was grave, incurable and have a judicial antecedence. However, the elements that the judge
was looking for were not all present therefore the judge decide to end the hearing. I did not expect
that the first hearing will be that fast. The second civil case, the lawyer and the client were not present.
On the criminal cases, there were seven cases, all on illegal drugs cases. Either selling, trading and,
illegal possession of illegal drugs. Drugs are chemicals that affect a person in such a way as to bring
about physiological, emotional, or behavioral change. When the criminal cases started, most of the
cases, the prosecutor and the sheriff were doing the stipulation, manifestation and markings on the
evidence. Judge Villamonte was very specific on the date when the offense committed, time and date
on the markings on the specimen evidence, who received the request letter for the laboratory exams.
He even requested that they must keep the original copies because that is the most important. I also
observed that Judge Villamonte was taking down his own notes regarding on the cases that were
being heard. It is also important for the judges to take down their own notes because some facts or
other important information might miss by the stenographer. Some police officers that are witnesses
were present that day and judge told them that they will not send him a subpoena and they must
coordinate with the public prosecutor for the next hearing. Judge called us infront and showed us
what an actual shabu looked like. It was my first time to see a shabu and it was a white crystalline
substance, looks like a shattered tempered glass.

Another case was a minor, seventeen years old guy. Caught that he was selling an illegal
drug and he voluntarily surrendered and he was in the custody of the City Social Welfare
Development in Binan. His hearing was rescheduled because his records was not yet done and, in
the process, and is not complete yet. Judge also have a soft spot in his heart, because he said,
“madaliin niyo na ung records niyan. Magpapasko ka na. para makauwi na yan.” In this case, I can
see that I should not judge the judge because somehow, they have some soft spots in their hearts and
that I shall not be afraid with them but not in all cases.

The lawyer of this one accused was called by the judge because he was not wearing proper
attire. He is a lawyer but his pants were maong, he did not obey the proper attire that the lawyers
should wear. This lawyer was being removed as a judge because he talked to clients outside court
and he had a mistress. In connection to the case of Villatuya vs. Tabalingcos, guilty of gross
immorality, and he is expected to be competent, honorable and reliable at all times. The
administration of justice, in which the lawyer plays an important role being an officer of the court,
demands a high degree of intellectual and moral competency on his part so that the courts and
clients may rightly repose confidence in him. He also violated the Canon 7 - a lawyer shall at all
times uphold the integrity and dignity of the legal profession and support the activities of the
integrated bar. Rule 7.03 - A lawyer shall not engage in conduct that adversely reflects on his
fitness to practice law, nor shall he whether in public or private life, behave in a scandalous
manner to the discredit of the legal profession. As a former judge and a lawyer, he must continue
his good moral character and he must conform to the highest standards of morality.
 On to the last case, again, on illegal selling of drugs. The prosecutor was stating the
information to the judge; however, the lawyer of the accused was interrupting the prosecutor from
what she is saying. The judge called him again and said “Attorney, pagsalitain muna natin siya.”
After that, prosecutor continued, and still interrupting the opposing counsel in their examination
of evidence and witnesses. Inside the court, you have to respect the one who is talking and he or
she must respect you back or else you might be in contempt of court. This case has a buy-bust
operation in which two policemen stand as a witness to the offense committed by the accused. The
first policeman where being questioned on how he saw and knew that the accused was selling a
shabu. He said that they organized a buy-bust operation to arrest the accused. The policeman
answered only nod if yes and head shake if no. Judge Villamonte was annoyed because the
question is answerable by a yes or no, yet he used his head to answer. Judge said, “Sumagot ka.
Hindi ung tango pag oo at iling pag hindi. Hindi yan naririnig sa record. Dahil nirerecord po
kayo.” This means, that if the prosecutor or the judge asked you, and it is answerable by a yes or
no, just answer it straight to the point. Because there is some point the answers might be
complicated and will harm your credibility. Same goes to the second police who stand as a witness,
he was asked by the prosecutor yet his answer was not clear if it is a “oo o hindi”. Judged asked
him again the second time, but he answer wasn’t clear and he was trying to explained everything.
On the witness stand, just answer the question being asked.

Before and after the hearing they held a prayer called Ecumenical Prayer for the Courts.
Almighty God, we stand in Your Holy Presence as our Supreme Judge. We humbly beseech You
to bless and inspire us so that what we think, say and do will be in accordance with Your will.
Enlighten our minds, strengthen our spirit and fill our hearts with fraternal love, wisdom and
understanding, so that we can become effective channels of truth, justice and peace. In our
proceedings today, guide us in the path of righteousness for the fulfillment of Your greater glory.
Amen.
With this way, everybody prays in harmony with one another.

What I learned from this activity/observation is that, as a lawyer you have to observe proper
decorum inside the court, obey the rules that stipulated by the law. It is difficult and challenging
to be a lawyer but fulfilling because you get to resolve the problems of your clients. Your giving
legal service to others, they are trusting you to their problems and because you can make a
difference in someone’s life and changed their life for the better. In addition, after the hearing, we
get to thank the judges for allowing us to observe in their session. Judge Quijano commented that,
“O, alam niyo na ang totoong nangyayari sa hearing sa mga korte. Hindi yung parang nasa t.v.,
ung mga sa drama drama.” Well, its true that it was far from the court hearings in the television
that I get used to watch because in television court it was highly dramatized and in actual court
room typically don’t have a lot of public in there for effect like on televi sion shows.

These are the photos taken during Law Firm visit and Court Visit