Thoughts on Week One

Yes I survived week one and a few hours from now, I'll be reporting for work for week two. But just the same, I need to have a break and at the same time, an update on what's happening around me. Work has been very time consuming. The earliest that I went home from work was at 9PM. The latest was at 11:30PM. And I have a 9:30AM hearing at the NLRC next day. Oh man!

To Ateneo Law students reading this, guess who I saw in a mandatory conciliation conference that I attended last week: the one and only Atty. Alan Paguia. He was representing the complainant along with another utot lawyer though Atty. Paguia would later claim that he was merely advocating a cause; of course he has to make that excuse because the Supreme Court has already said that he is suspended indefinitely from the practice law. Practice of law includes appearing in the NLRC arbitration hearings. He was surprised to see me there too. He asked if I'll be the one handling all the ABS-CBN cases and I said that maybe on the conciliation level. Good thing for me, he said. Good training. Just fresh from law school, started working just three days before, and now appearing in the NLRC mediation conference and representing the biggest broadcasting company in the country: ABS-CBN. Made feel good about my work since Labor Law is not really my forte. No one looks for underbar associates who specialize in Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Administrative Law, and Election Law. Ergo, no money for me if I don't look at the other fields of the law...

Last wednesday, I went home at 11:30PM. Initially, I was afraid to go home. It's late, dark, and probably hard to get a cab. I was surprised when I went out of Prestige Tower: putsa pare parang tanghali pa lang! SO MANY PEOPLE! Emerald Avenue was bustling with people smoking, eating, drinking, and having coffee. I forgot that there are about a thousand and one call centers around the area. So it is safe to go home late though I have no plans to stay up that late again soon. Warak ka kasi pag harap mo sa arbiter kinabukasan eh.

One last thing, probably the biggest revelation that I discovered in my first week is that big companies hire good labor law firms to do IMPOSSIBLE THINGS. I'm handling a case that when you look at the facts, from all angles, it is evident that the company did a pretty stupid thing and they're trying to argue their way out of it. Kung ginawa na lang regular yung empleyado baka nakatipid pa sila. Dispatcher lang naman eh. The problem is, they did not do it and now they're asking us to remedy the problem. I'm now preparing the appeal for that and I dunno how to justify their act. "Appeal until we reach the Supreme Court" was the company's demand and I'm now preparing a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 for that. As the partner in the firm said: "Companies hire us because they expect that we can do miracles. If the case is easy and they can win on the merits, they would just let their in-house counsel handle it." This is the first time that I learned about this fact. Another thing that the Ateneo don't teach us.

That is it for now. Catch up with you guys again soon. Merry Christmas to Christians, Happy Hannukah for Jews, and for godless people like me, Have a Happy Day to Eat Drink Sleep Late and Still Get Paid Full Day! Happy Holidays people. #

Two things that won't work

So I'll start work on Monday. Great! Now the sad part is that I'll be saying goodbye to living a carefree life, though I don't really think that what I did the past 8 years is really carefree! I prepared my whole life for this opportunity, to work in a law office, and be of service to your fellowmen. But the law firm that I'll be working specializes in labor law; not quite my greatest strength. Moreso, we'll be representing management.

If only the dead can know what is happening to the living, my late friend Darius the Great will be laughing in his grave and will be joking at the irony of my existence. I can picture him saying: "Pa-lecture lecture ka pa ng Karl Marx sa amin nun, ipagbibili mo lang pala yung utak mo sa burgis!" I had my own laugh at his expense though because in his wake, his coffin is in front of two big crucifixes. Ayaw mo palang magdasal ha! Sad thing is that he died too early; I won't be able to fulfill my promise the last time we were together in a drinking binge: that I'll represent him in case he became accused of rape, which, knowing him, is really a possibility...

Not that it is really a bad thing since it is reality, and truth does not lie (Hello Garci?!), but knowing how corrupt labor law practice in this country already makes me shudder. Soon, I'll be preparing myself to do a job that I avoided when I had my practicum: give a bribe to a labor arbiter in order to obtain a favor.

At least, the good thing is that the eldest in the family will finally get a job; four years after my younger sister did and three months after my other sister started working after becoming a licensed engineer. We always kid each other through that zany episode in SpongeBob Squarepants where SpongeBob yells at Squidward "There are two things in this house that won't work" - a potshot at me and my younger brother who is still is college. Now, come Monday, there is one less thing in the house that won't work!#

Life Changing Question

Nearly a decade ago, someone gave me this life-changing question: "Why?"
I gave this life-changing answer: "Why not!"

ooOOoo

It is funny to think that nearly a decade since that fateful day, I still remain faithful to my answer that day. After nine years, I'm still living a life that has been changed, probably, forever. I'm now 25 years old. There is really no turning back from this point on... I think.