My late father and hero, Gabriel Pawid Keith, was a lawyer who practiced privately for about 10 years before entering government where he spent the rest of his working life (more than 30 years?) as a public servant at the Benguet Capitol.
He was also a journalist, by the way, who contributed to the Philippine News Agency and was once the managing editor of this paper, Midland Courier, several decades ago, if I’m not mistaken.
The somewhat lame introduction is to bolster the fact that I have great respect for the legal profession and I congratulate wholeheartedly those who have hurdled the grueling Bar exams every year and joined the ranks of the country’s legal eagles.
We hope and pray that they will use their hard-earned knowledge not only for personal gain but more especially for the service of their countrymen needing their very much sought-after legal expertise. By the way, I am also blessed to have several dear relatives and friends who are lawyers themselves and thus, I know who to run to when I need free (that’s free!) legal advice.
However, as we join the country in congratulating its new lawyers (including media colleague Atty. Faisa Mariano, formerly of Bombo Radyo), this near-sighted Ibaloy writer (and several others who are just afraid to say it publicly) is just wondering why there is so much fuss and attention when it comes to those who pass the Bar exams and not so much, if at all, for those of other professions? Does this mean that other professions are not as important as the legal profession? Just wondering.
Again, I have nothing but admiration for the legal profession and its practitioners (most of them, anyway) but I’m only hoping that the attention given to its Bar passers would also be accorded to those of other professions since I do believe that all should be given equal importance. There should be no discrimination among professions or expertise and those with “titles” before their names should not be treated differently from those without. Besides, aren’t we all supposed to be equal in the eyes of God? Just saying.
May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ continue to bless and keep us all safe.
April 25, 2024
