S1L48 – “Social Activism” introducing Miss Laarnee Iwasan Things didn’t go so bad the last time I used my new ‘policy’ of calling students for recitation LAST NAME first. So I think I’ll stick to that policy. “Is Mister or Miss Iwasan
S1L47 – The danger of compulsory SIM card registration There’s a grain of truth in the common criticism that congressional investigations done “in aid of legislation” have little to show for real accomplishments in the end. Congress justifies these investigations by saying
S1L46 – “Place of birth” The debut of twins Glad and Gladys (Joy and Joyce) Why not?” I thought. Alpha Section is a small class, only 25 “survivors” by the midterm, 5 had dropped out since Prelims. I can certainly call the
S1L45 – “Intellectual Property” The debut of Miss Julyrain Arpeggio I decided to pull a classcard “blind” just to really be able to call on someone with the highest degree of randomness. “Miss Julia Regina Arpeggio?” Wow, I thought, at last a
S1L44 – “Legitimization through adoption” The debut of Miss Grippa Baligtaran I’ve been thinking—it’s almost midterm and I still have only called about eight people to recite. The rest have been able to “escape”—but not for long! I looked for the classcards
S1L43 – “Critique of E.O. 156” – Ms. Kata Explains False Syllogism Miss Kata Ngahan, are you in?” “Present in body and spirit, sir!” “Miss Kata, you taught creative writing before didn’t you? I read it in your Facebook…” I braced for
Deema’s Birthday! – International Human Rights Day is Miss Deema’s birthday The United Nations general assembly created the High Commission on Human Rights and started celebrating December 10 as International Human Rights Day in 1948. That’s the summary of my lecture for
S1L42 – “Leni and the Android Operating System” Signs that the future has arrived Mr. Jack Makataruz, are you present?” “Present, sir!” my punk -hairstyled student sprung to his feet. “You know, Jack, you give a whole new meaning to the phrase
S1L41 – Meaning of a Simple Contract, feat. Miss Joanna Pis-O from Barlig When you’re a 58-year old law professor and your students are millennials HALF your age, it can be a challenge to keep up with their language and mannerisms. But
S1L40 – “What’s a lucid interval?” as distinguished from temporary insanity Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our class tonight. I will be your instructor and it is my honor to impart some useful information to all of you tonight that,
S1L39 – “Solutio Indebiti” Miss Deema is a Nurse! I moved to Baguio City in 1967 when I was 3 years old. My mother was a single parent—or not exactly a single parent, I just had a “non-resident” father who came up
S1L38 – Petition for Change of Name, feat. Miss Joanna Pis-O from Barlig There are times when I’m not so prepared coming to class but I’ve learned the trick of how to deal with that. Have a short lecture in mind, call
S1L37 – Grilling Lessons from Deema: How to crossexamine without tricks Mister Cabo Buhan, are you alive?” This is my only student with a premed background. He comes from Dagupan City, Pangasinan. “I am over here sir, quietly metabolizing glucose…” He also
S1L36 – Ethnicity, Nationality, Citizenship, Identity and Domicile, feat. Miss Hannah Maala from Buguias Miss Palindrome, are you around?” Hannah Maala sprung to her feet, she knew right away I was referring to her. “Present, sir!” “Hehehe…Miss Maala, your middle initial written
S1L35 – Women Empowerment, feat. Miss Carla Addaawan from Tabuk City A law class is an ideal environment to immerse yourself in current events and issues, something I encourage my students to do. Law is dynamic, you don’t study law in a
S1L34 – The “Regalian Doctrine” and the Modern Colonizers of the iBenguets Juan Dimacaawat, are you present?” “Yes, sir!” “Let’s talk a little history, Mr. Dimacaawat. Imagine that you were already a lawyer in March 16, 1521…” “Sir, no imagination is necessary,
S1L33 – “Conflict of Interest” Involving a Public Prosecutor This evening class I want to discuss a very controversial and contentious topic: judicial independence and the integrity of the criminal-justice system.” The whole class went, “Ooooooh…!” “Facts—a judge in Cawatan City, which
S1L32 – The UNCLOS Ruling in favor of the Philippines, introducing Miss Hannah Maala from Buguias Mister Jack Makataruz, tumakder…!” “Yes, sir!” “Facts—three Chinese coast guard vessels intercepted two Philippine boats on the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese boats used high-pressure water
S1L31 – “Surveys are Self-serving Predictions”, feat. Miss Deema When I’m alone in my office in the afternoon (about 90% of Zoom hearings are held in the morning) I use the “me time” to catch up on the news on the internet.
S1L30 – The Right of Suffrage and the Duck in the Cockpit, introducing Mr. Hilong Talilong As I’m shuffling classcards for another recitation, I noticed a few classcards that look very new—I suppose there are some students that I have never called
S1L29 – Blind Items and the law on Libel Blind items are an item again nowadays after President Duterte exploded his “bomb” about a presidential candidate snorting cocaine. In Ilocano there’s a saying “nu sino mangan sili isu magasangan” (or maybe it’s
S1L28 – The Inherent Defects of Republican Democracy that sent Miss Deema crying Mr. Juan Dimacaawat, will you please count how many of you are here?” After a minute Juan reported, “We are twenty, sir.” “Alright, listen class. I prepared four lectures
S1L27 – The 3 D’s in Estafa: Deceit, Damage and Discovery, feat. Mommy Dionisia In Baguio City, law classes meet in the evening, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm although I once famously “punished” a class by lecturing until 11:00 PM. Evening classes
S1L26 – The Doctrine of Forgiveness, feat. Miss Kata Ngahan Miss Kata Ngahan, are you around…?” “I’m present, sir. I never miss your class, it’s a pleasure and a signal pride for me to be sitting here and learning from a consummate
S1L25 – Lawyers are cool and fashionable, feat. Mohawk-hairstyled Jack Makataruz from Bauko A law class is not always about discussions of legal doctrines and principles. A law class is a dynamic mini-society which is really a microcosm of the community itself.
S1L24 – Why Lawyers love to say things in Latin, Juan Dimacaawat hits on Miss Deema Niwala Law is general education. That’s why there is really no such thing as the most ideal pre-law preparation. My students come from diverse under-grad backgrounds.
S1L23 – Admissions and Denials, feat. Miss Deema Niwala Miss Deema Niwala, are you around?” “I’m here, sir. I’m always present. In fact, I always sit in front and you barely take notice of my presence.” This is one of those great
S1L22 – Basic Criminal Law concepts, feat. Mr. Juan Dimacaawat Mr. Juan Dimacaawat, stand up please…” “Yes, sir!” Something I always admired about this particular law student of mine is he never comes to class with tons of books or notebooks in
Why banks betray smaller clients over bigger ones Semester 1 Non-class lecture 21 Truth be told, not all of my teachings happen in a classroom situation. Sometimes law students ambush me in the cafeteria and ruin my lunch, or merienda, by asking
S1L20 – Natural and Juridical Persons Mr. Juan Dimacaawat, are you present?” I surveyed the classroom looking for my favorite law student. He just barely managed go barge into the classroom, sweating like a pig from running to make it in time
S1L19 – Can a bank just freeze your account? I do legal education in my Facebook account, and on my webpage, but not legal counselling. So for those who have asked me if they should close their bank accounts with BPI, PNB,
S1L18 – BENECO Lawyers go up against NEA over “Rule of Law” If you ask me what was the first critical blunder of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) in its ill-fated effort to takeover BENECO, it would be this: it underestimated the
S1L17 – How the public is being hypnotized into surrendering BENECO In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king. What this old adage means, to me, is that men obtain power because they see what others cannot. A more cynical
S1L16 – How to guard yourself against cyberlibel, introducing Juan Dimacaawat Mister Juan Dimacaawat, are you around?” My favorite law student is a stocky fellow from Mankayan, Benguet, the son of a retired miner who now owns a welding shop fabricating “ball
S1L15 – Everything that “Persona Non Grata” Resolution means or does not mean One of the myths that law students are able to dispel quickly is the popular impression that their law professors know everything. They hold them in such high esteem
S1L14 – The Difference between “power of control” and “supervision”” This is potentially boring stuff unless you’re sick and tired of people who talk like they know everything about electric cooperatives, BENECO, and NEA—but are actually bluffing and just trying to impress
S1L13 – The Courts: Where trolls and bashers cannot prevail I am biased for litigation, but on a practical level I would do everything to try to avoid going to trial. It’s too costly, stressful and time-consuming. And you never really attain
S1L12 – How BENECO’s valiant MCO’s are like Masadans, outnumbered but not outfought The siege of Masada was one of the final events in the First Jewish–Roman War which raged from 73 to 74 A.D. On a high plateau above the plains
S1L11 – Rebellion has no penalty if the rebels win I’m shuffling classcards again for today’s class recitation….Juan Dimacaawat? “Present, sir!” Alright, Mr. Dimacaawat. Please read Art. 135 of your Revised Penal Code. “Any person who promotes, maintains or heads a rebellion
S1L10 – Desperate NEA Resorts to Red-tagging Mia Magdalena In July 2018, the Philippine government deported 71-year old Australian Missionary nun Sister Patricia Fox, oblivious of the fact she had lived in the Philippines for more than 27 years. She spoke Cebuano,
S1L9 – Quantifying the Enormous Voting Strength of MCO Power This is an interesting number to ponder: 138,000. That’s the number of member-consumer-owners (MCO’s) of BENECO as of the end of September 2021. Baguio City has 164,125 registered voters. In other words,
S1L8 – “Trapos” panicked by the rise of MCO Power Now, it’s giving shifty politicos a migraine—this belated awareness that the BENECO member-consumer-owners (MCO’s) just might be an even bigger bailiwick than the INK and the Catholics combined. Politico A: “Naku, patay
S1L7 – The Most Potent Basis of Consumer power: OWNERSHIP When American Idol Season 1 Champion Kelly Clarkson sang, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” she could very well have been singing about what’s happening in BENECO today. Before NEA launched
S1L6 – How to interpret law using “Ejusdem Generis” To my law students in the college of law and in the Facebook School of Law: What is meant by “EJUSDEM GENERIS?” It’s a rule in statutory construction—which, by the way, has nothing
S1L5 – NEA is Applying the Doctrine of “Presumption of Regularity” Totally wrong January (Bar Exam) is just around the corner. We have very little time to cram as much information as we can into our law students’ heads. So for those
S1L4 – The Failure of Diligence of PNB over BENECO’s Money This is for my law students preparing for the Bar. This is on Banking Laws and Procedures (Debit Transactions): QUESTION: Can BENECO recover the one million pesos withdrawn from its account
S1L3 – Senate Probe of NEA will expose its Derelect Relevance So there’s going to be a Senate investigation into this worsening anarchy that the National Electrification Administration (NEA) is fomenting in Baguio and Benguet in its hungry grab for BENECO. When
S1L2 – NEA’s red-tagging strategy will backfire and spook the business community Everyone in Baguio should be alarmed by the red-tagging strategy that NEA has unwisely decided to include in its arsenal of weapons against BENECO. The business community, in particular, should
S1L1 – How the “Rule of Law” is perverted mimics a pro-wrestling match The best way to understand how the “rule of law” is perverted is to watch any professional wrestling match on YouTube. Pick any match where the two opponents wear
Pre-Semester Frontier Post 50 (Facebook’s “Artificial Intelligence” Failing to Protect MCO Accounts) Artificial intelligence” (AI) is another one of those contradiction in terms you will inevitably have the pure annoyance of running into these days. All social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,
