Lawyer, proud mother

NOW on her seventh year as clerk of court of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) in Davao City, lawyer Maria Fe Orig-Maloloy-on still dreams of becoming an MTCC judge.

In the meantime, she is relishing the experience as a clerk of court and having to deal with different people from all walks of life.

"Helping them makes me love more this job, it might not that highly paid but the satisfaction that you can get from the people you helped will relieve that stress," she said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao.

Maloloy-on was born in Davao, but in 1976, her family moved to Bulacan to start a new life closer to their relatives.

She completed her elementary education at San Pascual Institute and got her first baccalureate degree in Accountancy at the University of the East.

As a young girl, she did think herself of becoming a lawyer, but the desire to be one only hit her in college when she noticed that she was more inclined to study the complexities of laws.

But that had to wait as she needed to work soon after graduation.

She spent a few years in a managerial position at the Valley Resort Corporation before taking up Bachelor of Laws at the Far Eastern University.

While in law school, she worked as government legal researcher and then applied for the position of clerk of court when she passed the bar.

"Working in a private institution and in government gives you different feeling. In the corporate world, your immediate boss and superior is there constantly checking on you, but in the government, the people is your boss," she said.

As a public servant, she has to deal with different people with different needs.

"It is more challenging and more rewarding in the public service than working in a private company, I enjoy the job in the government," she said.

She admits that there have been several occasions when her patience and professionalism has been tested.

She remembers most the case filed by one lawyer who accused her of not doing her job as clerk of court. This lawyer, she said, filed an administrative case against her for "gross ignorance of the law".

To be accused of such when you are a lawyer and a clerk of court at that is a grand insult. But she faced the lawsuit and felt vindicated when the Supreme Court instead castigated the lawyer for gross misconduct.

Maloloy-on said she makes sure that despite heavy work load in her office, everyone is doing his job well and knows the tasks that has to be attended to everyday. That, for her, is leadership.

"I may appear strict and my subordinate may perceive me as firm but that would also benefit them," she said. "In this office, no one is indispensable, we can do our job even in the absence of the other without hampering the entire system's operation."

The strict lawyer becomes a loving wife and mother when the conversation takes the turn toward family life.

Married to Engr. Michael Maloloy-on, they have four children: Malaica Nia, Micaela Nia, Miguel Lorenzon Rigon, and Marrien Nina.

She describes the happiest days of her life when she first met her husband.

But now that the children are all growing up, her happiness is spread further with her pride for her children.

She admits being envious at times when her eldest daughter, now a dalagita (young lady), shares with her cousin her troubles with her boyfriend instead of her.

"I told her that just talk to me and I will leave whatever I was doing just to hear from all of you," she said.

Her son, she shared, seems determined to become an actor.

These were but the tidbits she shared as a mother, wife and lawyer. It might take a lot of balancing and adjustments especially with children now well into their teens, but she's hanging on and striving to be the best she can.

"I never regretted being a lawyer and being in this position, it made me feel life is worth living," Maloloy-on said.