As the bar examinations entered its second Sunday today, we spotted a very unlikely case of a law student who took the bar exams, made his oath of office as a lawyer but never signed the roll of attorneys. It is a fundamental principle in Legal Ethics to sign the roll of attorneys before one could finally become a lawyer. The Supreme Court en banc, in Bar Matter No. 2540 with no less than Chief Justice Ma. Loures Sereno as the main ponente, recently allowed one Michael Medado to sign in the roll of attorneys 30 years after he passed the bar examination but imposed a very unusual penalty on him. Those who are taking the bar this year should remember this recent case decided by the High Tribunal if ever they are given the privilege to hurdle the examination.

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In 1979, Medado graduated from the University of the Philippines with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and passed the same year’s bar examination with a general weighted average of 82.7. He took the attorney’s oath at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila together with the successful bar examinees. After his oath taking, Medado was scheduled to sign in the roll of attorneys on May 13, 1980 but he failed to do so on his scheduled date, allegedly because he had misplaced the notice to sign the roll of attorneys given by the Office of the Bar Confidant. Several years later, while going over his old college files, he found the said notice to sign the roll of attorneys. It was then that he realized that he had not signed in the roll and that what he had signed at the entrance of the PICC was probably just an attendance record.

By the time Medado found the notice, he was already doing corporate and taxation work and that he was not actively involved in litigation practice. Thus, he operated under the mistaken belief that since he had already taken the oath, the signing of the roll of attorneys was not as urgent, nor as crucial to his status as a lawyer. In 2005, when he attended the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) seminars, he was required to provide his roll number in order for his MCLE compliances to be credited. Not having signed in the roll of attorneys, he was unable to provide his roll number.

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The Bar Confidant recommended that Medado’s petition to sign the roll of attorneys be denied for his gross negligence, gross misconduct and utter lack of merit. But the Supreme Court did not approve the recommendation and in its stead, granted Medado’s prayer subject to the payment of a fine and the imposition of a penalty equivalent to suspension from the practice of law. The Supreme Court noted that it was not a third party who called the court’s attention to Medado’s omission. Rather, it was he himself who acknowledged his own lapse, albeit after the passage of more than 30 years. The court noted that it cannot fully exculpate Medado from all liability for his years of inaction. He has been engaged in the practice of law since 1980, a period spanning more than 30 years, without having signed in the roll of attorneys. He justifies this behavior by characterizing his acts as neither willful nor intentional but based on a mistaken belief and an honest error of  judgment. The court disagreed with his justification. It said that while an honest mistake of fact could be used to excuse a person from the legal consequences of his acts as it negates malice or evil motive, a mistake of law cannot be utilized as a lawful justification, because everyone is presumed to know the law and its consequences. Ignorantia facti excusat, ignorantia legis neminem excusat .

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Pardon for the title what we used in this corner today, but this lawmaker is definitely one kind of a bull*** person. Perhaps taking the cue from Hongkong journalists who covered the recent Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali, Indonesia and shouted at Pres. Pnoy because of the 2010 hostage incident which killed eight HK tourists due to a bungled rescue operation by the police, a Hongkong legislator is proposing to ban Filipino maids there and even have the idea to ban all Filipinos in HK eventually. Albert Chan, a member of the Hong Kong parliament, made the proposal if Pres. Pnoy will not apologize for the incident. Do we understand that Hong Kong is now preparing for a war against the Philippines with Chan’s proposal? This legislator certainly does not know what he is doing.

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No. 1, the President does not have to make an apology to Hongkong for the Manila Hostage Crisis because the Philippines, as a state, was not directly responsible for the tragedy. No. 2, Pnoy already offered his condolences to Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung for the incident. No. 3, Hong Kong is not a state by its own, it was a British colony before it was turned over to the Peoples Republic of China. Thus, a head of state cannot apologize to a mere leader of Hong Kong which is considered a province of China. Lastly, when nationals of a state are already c0nsidered an enemy of another state, there is already a war existing between the two. Hong Kong has about 160,000 Filipino domestic workers. Anyway, Chan's proposal was met with reservations by Hong Kong's security minister, legislators and the family of one of the dead hostages, who expressed concern about its effects. Most Hong Kong residents also labeled the proposal as "racist." It turned out that only Chan does not have the right mind there in Hongkong.

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POSTSCRIPT: We cannot help but comment briefly on the first ever NBA game in the country last week. Because if Larry Bird was arguably the most popular NBA personality during the NBA Global Games 2013 in Manila (although the Chandler Parsons could give him a run for his money because he dated KC Concepcion), then Dwight Howard was perhaps the most despised. Despite Los Angeles team management to let him stay with the Lakers, Howard bolted and signed a free-agent contract with the Houston Rockets, drawing the ire of the Lakers and their fans. The Lakers were supposed to contend for the 2013 NBA championship with Howard and point guard Steve Nash, but instead they struggled through injuries, lacks cohesion and even got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs.

In the fourth and final game of that series, and with their season on the line, the big man even managed to get himself ejected in the third period, ending his short and tumultuous stint with LA. This did not sit well with Lakers fans, including those in Manila, of which, Howard found out, there are plenty. During the NBA game last Thursday, Filipino fans made Howard feel like he was at the Staples Center, the Lakers' homecourt, booing him every time he touched the ball and sarcastically cheering him when he made his only free throw. Howard is a notoriously poor free throw shooter. Howard still had his trademark smile on for most of the game, even though he labored through a rough offensive night, scoring only nine points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 from the line in 23 minutes of action. Maybe the boos did get to him. There are still more when we return.