“THERE is nothing wrong if one day you will realize you are not meant for that vocation,” this advice was what made Norman Solis decide to become a lawyer to create an impact to the lives of the most vulnerable in the society.
Fiscal Solis, Davao del Norte chief prosecutor, studied Philosophy at the Oblates of St. Joseph Major Seminary in Lipa, Batangas and Theology at Don Bosco Center of Studies in Parañaque. He stayed in the seminary for eight years during the preparatory course to become a priest because he thought priesthood is his “calling”.
During the course of that eight-year period, he was scared because he realized becoming a priest is not that easy. With the help of his spiritual adviser, Solis came to realize that when pursuing another course, he might as well take something that would make him a great help to others and make this an advocacy.
He then took up Business Administration and proceeded to law at the Ateneo de Davao University. He became a full-fledged lawyer after passing the Bar exams in 1997.
Solis first served the public through the Public Attorney’s Office in Davao Region doing pro bono services. He then went on to serve the lumad in Sarangani Province. He was the first one to serve as their public lawyer and the one who initiated to establish an attorney’s office in the province in 2000.
“Gitan-aw nako ang sitwasyon sa atong mga lumad didto, wala gyud sila’y abogado, na-attach lang gud sila sa GenSan, muadto pa sila’g Gensan, lisod kaayo (I saw the situation of the lumad there, they don’t have a lawyer. They only attached themselves with General Santos City when they need legal assistance, they had to go to GenSan, that’s how hard it was),” he said.
At present, the Sarangani Provincial Government enjoys having an institutionalized District Attorney’s Office courtesy of Solis.
But because he wanted to go back to Davao as his son was studying here, he went back to PAO, holding Panabo and Tagum districts. He worked there for six and a half years.
In 2005, he was recruited to become fiscal of Tagum City, but later on, an opportunity came for him to be one of the prosecutors for Davao del Norte. So he served as Tagum City fiscal and Davao del Norte Provincial fiscal at the same time.
He then became an OIC provincial prosecutor in Davao del Norte and later on appointed to become the Provincial Chief Prosecutor in 2010.
Solis is one of the members of the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking in Davao Region (Iacat-Davao). Although he was handpicked to be part of the Iacat, he said he came to love working for the council as it is his advocacy to help the most vulnerable, the women, and the children.
Chief Prosecutor Solis currently has the most number of convictions in trafficking cases in the Philippines at 24, the reason why Iacat-Davao became an awardee during the Iacat National Awards for the first time.
“Our consolation in working with the council is when we rescue the minors and we successfully prosecute the perpetrators to give lesson to the public that trafficking is not a good business because it’s a modern day slavery. Imagine, (employing) small children and women, mostly, for a cheap fee?” he said.
And with this, he hopes that one day all sectors will be educated regarding trafficking in persons so that no more children or women will become slaves in this modern age.