There are just days when events excite in you the doubt that you are in the wrong profession. That instead of lawyering for your clients, maybe you would be more useful to the world tending the farm and looking after the family livestock. Being a farmer is not as glorified by society as that of being a lawyer, but at 4:30 P.M. you would be enjoying native coconut wine (tuba) and not strategizing how to counter the pleadings just brought in by the mailman. An average Filipino farmer would earn in a month what a slightly-above average lawyer will earn in an hour, but at 8:00 P.M. a typical Filipino farmer would be sleeping contentedly after making love to his wife, while at the same time some lawyers (not all though, certainly none of those I personally know – I just heard stories, and this post is not under oath, hahaha) are still busy deciding which girlfriend to spend the night with – a night they would be both too tired to enjoy together anyway. (I’m pulling that off straight from my foot – I have no personal knowledge. Really.)
It was a losing Wednesday for me. A client’s bid to nullify a warrant of arrest against her was denied by the court. Another client’s motion to quash the information was not granted too. An opposing counsel’s request for the judge to inhibit himself, a judge who had asked on record questions to the counsel’s witness which show that he (judge) tended to favor our theory of the case, was granted by the judge. Another judge refused to extend the temporary protection order for a client. An employee-client was awarded a mere PHP 13,000.00 for 16 years of service. I was not able to stop a suspension order from the Ombudsman for a public school teacher.
The only positive thing this Wednesday is the approval of my petition for re-appointment as a notary public for the Cities of Cebu and Carcar and the Municipality of San Fernando, Cebu, after I had religiously complied with the rules on notarial practice for the last two years and submitted the required documents last December. So it’s not really win. It was as expected as having sex with one’s partner after you’ve checked in and both taken bath – the moment of discretion had long passed, and what happens next is but the logical and natural consequence of your prior acts, so it’s not really a win.