TRUE to its commitment towards academic excellence, the Gullas Law School of the University of the Visayas (UV) recently opened its own moot court primarily aimed at producing topnotch law graduates.

No less than UV president and Rep. Eduardo R. Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) graced the opening of the fully-airconditioned moot court on the 4th floor of Don Juan Rivera building in a fitting ceremony.

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“This place is a testament of the Gullas Law School’s concern for the welfare of the law students, the continued pursuit for academic excellence and producing top caliber lawyers,” read a plaque on the wall of the moot court’s entrance.

Assisted by Gullas Law School Dean Teodoro Almase, Gullas did the honor of unveiling the plaque and the cutting of the ceremonial ribbon.

The blessing of the newly refurbished law dean’s office, the library and the 4th floor classrooms preceded the program proper.

“Do not be afraid of the bar exam. Have confidence in yourself and have faith in Him (The Father Almighty),” Gullas, also a lawyer, addressed the students in his speech.

Prayer

When he took the bar exam, Gullas recalled that his late mother Josefina “Inday Pining” Rivera-Gullas, the matriarch of the Gullas family, gave him a booklet bearing the prayer to St. Jude, the patron saint of the desperate.

“We fight the hardest when the odds are greatest, that’s the UV spirit,” he said.

Gullas said the UV College of Law has the best law professors who are well versed “both in theory and law practice.”

He also hailed Almase, A UV law alumnus who ranked fourth in the 1963 bar, for steering well the law school administration, describing him as the best law deans in the country today.

Before taking up law, Almase was already a geodetic engineer by profession, placing eight in the geodetic engineering board exam.

In turn, Almase thanked Gullas for his assistance in improving the physical facilities of the law school.

He said the construction of a moot court only shows the UV’s commitment to raise the level of competitiveness among the law students and adopt the ever-changing law
programs in the country.

The moot court will serve as the venue for law students to develop their legal skills and perform oral argument in trial litigation simulations.

Lawyer Fritz Quiñanola, a UV professor, helped design the moot court.

Almase urged the students to maximize the use of the law school’s facilities especially the library, which he described as the nerve center of knowledge.

He said he instructed law professors to give extensive assignments to the students “to do justice to our library and other facilities.”

The Gullas Law School had only Hipolito Alo as its student when it was established in 1921, according to the UV official website.

After finishing his studies, Alo reportedly became a source of inspiration to hundreds of UV law students when he passed the bar and “subsequently became a judge of the then Court of First Instance of Bohol,” it added. (GC)