Saturday, May 17, 2008 An educator and a lawyer By Rhodamae M. Hernandez
BEING an educator and a practicing lawyer is never an easy job, but not with Ramon Edison Batacan who managed to outshine others by his wit and confidence.
Ed finished law at the Ateneo de Davao University in 1990 cumlaude and passed the bar examination in 1991.
After passing the bar, he was with the Ateneo Legal Services Office providing legal aid to poor litigants.
He also joined the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) where he gained a plaque of appreciation by the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines TFDP for his dedicated service to political prisoners and other victims of human rights violations.
Aside form being the managing partner of the one of the prominent law offices in the city, the Batacan, Montejo and Vicencio Law Firm, he is also teaching at the Ateneo de Davao University, College of Law for seventeen days now.
He is teaching Civil Law (Property), Commercial Law (Negotiable instruments Law), Law on Natural Resources, and Environmental Law and a pre-bar reviewer in Civil and Mercantile Law at the same time the founder of Green Juris, a university-based environmental law organization.
Batacan was the past president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Davao City Chapter and now the Governor for Eastern Mindanao.
He is also a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) at the University of Mindanao (UM) in 1979 and earned his masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) in 1986.
Becoming a 'golden boy' last March 30, he was born to couple Elpidio Dumlao Batacan of Batac, Ilocos Norte and Francisca Culanag of Bayombong in Nueva Vizcaya. He is happily married to Marites Sia of Matalam, North Cotabato with three children: Paul Edison (20), Maria Ayra Celina (15), and Marie Loise Claire (8).
While chatting with one of our legal counsels, Ed opted not to talk about his achievements and would rather discuss his being an educator.
SSD: What does it take to be a law professor?
REB: It requires a lot of passion to be a teacher, otherwise, one can never find fulfillment in the profession. There is really no expectation of a financial reward, except for the altruistic feeling that you are part of the success of any would-be-lawyer.
SSD: How do students regard you in school?
REB: They say I am strict, but that is not without any reason. I want them to develop a sense of discipline while in law school. They will carry that attitude when they will eventually prepare for the bar exams.
SSD: In school, you meet a lot of students with different personalities, how do you adjust?
REB: In law school, they will develop a common personality, the will to survive. They adjust, professors don't.
SSD: What advise do you usually give to your students?
REB: I never fail telling my students to be serious in their studies. They cannot pass the bar by sheer luck. It entails a lot of preparation and sacrifices. In Ateneo for example, passing the exams is not enough but the maintenance of the required standards to stay in school, otherwise they are kicked out for good. I always inculcate in them the real essence of lawyering. Its not for the money but quest for what is right and just under given situations.
SSD: Are you not threatened that female lawyers will eventually take over and you guys will just be their shadow?
REB: Admittedly, there is a significant increase in the roster of lady lawyers in the region. In ADDU alone for example, the ratio between male and female students is 1:1. In the bar exam, the female candidates have as much or even higher passing percentage than their male counterparts, some land in the top 20 and the trend is continuing. In all probability, female lawyers will outnumber the male lawyers in the next ten-fifteen years in the general field of law but this does not mean though that all go into actual court practice, which is still dominated by male lawyers. Like in medicine, there are lots of lady doctors but few are surgeons. By analogy, there are plenty of female lawyers but few go into actual court practice. Court practice is still the domain of male lawyers, number wise, to say the least. Threatened? Not at all. If they dominate the legal arena, at least the upside of it is that if all things fail, I can still appeal to their maternal instincts to get the job done (laughs!).
SSD: Have you faced some of your students in actual court battle?
REB: Yes, I did. I find them very good and if I am outsmarted in an argument, I always find consolation in the thought that I was their teacher (laughs).
SSD: How about appearing before judges who were your former students?
REB: I find it quite amusing since they still call me 'sir' to the anxiety of the opposite counsel. I guess this is part of the reward of being a teacher (laughs).
SSD: In Davao City, at least, you are reputed to be one of the more successful lawyers, to whom or to what things would you attribute your success?
REB: Hard work is a precursor to success as in any other undertaking, since it does not happen overnight. The nature of lawyering requires credibility and the respect of fellow lawyers, otherwise there can hardly be trust, which is the very core of the legal profession.
SSD: Was becoming a lawyer your dream?
REB: When I was a small kid, I never thought of wanting to become a lawyer someday. I wanted to become a soldier when I grow up because it runs in the family. My dad was a soldier. My mom's brothers were all soldiers. Most of my cousins are in the military. My elder sister was a military nurse. I remember having signed up with the AFP for Officers Candidate School (OCS) in Australia after graduating college but my mother objected. That killed my ambition to become a soldier.
He said when his cousin, now prosecutor Victor Dumlao of Davao City urged him to take up law, he decided to give it a try.
"That was in 1986 and there was no turning back. The rest is history," Batacan said.
