To the brave souls about to enter the halls of bar testing centers, we salute you. The days ahead will be long, but they will also mark the threshold of your becoming officers of the court and, and, more than that, lawyers who must decide whose side of history you will stand on.
The law has too often been used as a weapon by the powerful to protect their wealth and privilege. We see it in the billions lost to flood control projects while communities drown, and in the way leaders like Vice President Sara Duterte elude accountability. The bar you are about to take is not only a test of knowledge. It is also a test of resolve: whether to accept the order as it is, or to use the law in the service of change.
What the country needs are lawyers who will stand with the poor and the powerless. Lawyers who will defend workers, farmers, women, indigenous peoples, and all those pushed to the margins. Lawyers who will take the less traveled road of sacrifice and solidarity.
As you sharpen your minds for the examination, also take time to search your hearts. Pass the bar, yes—but more importantly, do not let the bar pass you by without reflecting on what kind of lawyer you will become.
May you carry with you the courage to fight impunity, the openness to learn from the people, and the conviction that justice is found not in statutes alone, but in the struggles that bring them to life.
Padayon, future lawyers! The people await you.
#BeTheBestLawyersMoneyCannotBuy
