Dream, work hard, and never give up.
Anthony Mark Dulawan Emocling, a graduate of the University of Baguio School of Law, made history for being the first visually-impaired to pass the Bar exams.
Emocling is one of the 3,992 examinees who hurdled the 2022 Bar exams, the second edition of the computerized and regionalized test administered by the Supreme Court. His name appeared at 1407 in the list of Bar passers.
His is one of the many stories that prove unfavorable circumstances in life are not hindrances to achieving one’s aspirations.
His dream of becoming a lawyer was fueled by his disability.
“I wanted to prove that people with visual impairment are not intellectually incapable. After all, the study and practice of law is more of a mind work, not visual,” Emocling said.
Emocling earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and graduated with academic distinction of cum laude, also from UB. He finished his Law studies in 2017.
Like many others, his journey to becoming a lawyer was tough, made doubly hard by his situation.
“But I had to keep going because one who dreams big should not let his disability be a hindrance to achieving his goal,” he said.
Since Saint Louis University, the nearest testing center for him, is not equipped for assisted examination, Emocling took the test at the Ateneo de Manila University, where his mother had to leave him at the university entrance and in the care of a runner assigned by the Supreme Court who would accompany him to the examination center.
During the test, someone reads him the question and he dictates his answer to be encoded by another staff.
Once a student of human rights lawyer and former UB School of Law dean Pablito V. Sanidad Sr., Emocling said he wants to focus on human rights and “fight for the marginalized.”
His message to students who dream of someday joining the legal profession: “Never give up. Keep fighting despite life’s unfavorable circumstance.”
It was also Sanidad, now mayor of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, who broke the news to the Midland Courier about the triumph of Emocling, who he guided when he was taking up Law.
Emocling is one of the 21 UB School of Law graduates who hurdled the 2022 Bar exams.
Saint Louis University meanwhile produced the top 18 in the examinations in Eric Pamintuan Exiomo who earned a rating of 86.4918 percent.
Residents from nearby Cervantes, Ilocos Sur also took to the social media, including the Midland Courier Facebook account, to proudly announce that one of its sons Kyle Terence Amilao Viloria is the top 20 in the 2022 Bar exams with a rating of 86.3334 percent.
Viloria is a grandson of the late Cervantes Mayor Rufino Lacbongan Amilao, who once traced his roots to the old Mountain Province. – Jane B.Cadalig
