The State of Philippine Legal Education Revisited
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The State of Philippine Legal Education Revisited MARIANO F. MAGSALIN, JR.∗ Introduction Imagine a “virtual” panel of the most erudite and specialized law mentors imparting their field of expertise, assisted and complemented by state-of-the-art teaching tools, in downloadable real time for the consumption of students in the comfort and convenience of their homes, workstations or wherever their personal digital assistants take them. Feedback or recitation, examinations and grade dissemination are all done through e-mail or its faster and higher-resolution counterpart. Verily, the paper chase is still on but pursued in a different matrix. This is, or should be, according to some Western legal educators, legal education in the digital age. A counterpoint to this idyllic scenario is Philippine legal education, the development of which may be characterized at best, as spinning on its wheels. For decades, the future of law students has been obdurately consigned to an impractical, inefficient, wagering system, totally subservient to an antiquated bar examination requirement. Many Philippine lawyers have labeled themselves as the best in Asia because of what they perceive to be a difficult rite of passage that is the bar examination, and yet, Philippine law schools have not figured at all as a factor in surveys of the best universities in Asia. Reforms in Philippine legal education have moved glacially. While many foreign law schools have already responded and adapted to the demands of an increasingly globalized and borderless world, the concerns of many law schools in the Philippines are still centered on survival and viability. Competition is at best described as cutthroat and unfair. This article is meant to endorse a radical re-structuring of the Philippine legal education system in the foreseeable future and not as a continuing critique or disparagement of the reality described above. Particular emphasis should be given to downplaying the stress and inordinate prominence given the bar examinations, the implementation of an honest-to-goodness law school accreditation system, and the earmarking by law schools of substantial investments for faculty development, upgrading of facilities and the latest ∗Dean, Arellano University School of Law and Secretary General, Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) July 2003 The State of Philippine Legal Education Revisited 39 technologies. This paper posits the thesis that only upon a total overhaul and true reform of the legal education system could it remain viable and again become a vibrant instrument for learning, critical research and molding of public policy. A Brief History The seeds of legal education in the Philippines were sown during the Spanish regime when, in 1734, the University of Santo Tomas established its Faculty of Civil Law. In 1911 or 180 years later, the American civil government established the first state college of law at the University of the Philippines, through the vision and efforts of George A. Malcolm, American legal educator, founder and first dean of the college.1 The ratification of the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines paved the way for private colleges and universities in Manila to institute their respective colleges of law upon obtaining from the Department of Public Instruction the required license to operate. At that time, there was hardly any kind of supervision of law schools due to lack of overseers, especially for private educational institutions. The University of Santo Tomas, the University of the Philippines, the former Colegio de Ateneo de Manila and the Philippine Law School were among the premier law institutions during those years.2 At the end of World War II, more law schools were established, especially in Manila and key cities of the Philippines and by 1950, there were 28 law colleges. This number increased to 36 by 1960 and to 39 by 1970. Ten colleges of law were added in 1971-1980 and eight in 1981-1988. In 1989, 57 colleges and universities offered law as a 4-year degree course.3 In year 2002, new graduates from 75 law schools took the bar examinations.4 Supervision of Law Schools The regulation of law schools started in the fifties and was initially done by the Bureau of Private Schools. A special consultant then acted as a supervisor of the law schools, aside from serving as national coordinator of law deans on matters relative to the course. Later, the Department of Education, through the Bureau of Private Education, issued a Manual of Instructions (Regulations) for Private Schools, containing rules and regulations concerning qualifications of the faculty and deans, faculty load, library holdings, and the like which became the ‘bible’ of private institutions of learning.5 Law schools were later placed under 1 State of Legal Education in the Philippines, Bureau of Higher Education, 1989, p. 1 2 ibid, p. 2 3 ibid 4 2002 Statistical Data, Office of the Bar Confidant, Supreme Court of the Philippines 5 op. cit. p. 2 40 Arellano Law and Policy Review Vol. 4 No. 1 the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Higher Education of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) up to the early nineties. On December 23, 1993, Congress passed Republic Act No. 7662, The Legal Education Reform Act, which provided for the creation of a Board of Legal Education to supervise law schools and administer the legal education system in the country. Since then, however, the Board has not been constituted as questions have been raised on the constitutionality of some of its provisions. Because of the hiatus created by the non-implementation of the law, a technical panel under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which was created in 1994, has ‘unofficially’ assumed the function of supervising law schools. This is being challenged by the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) on the ground that the CHED has no jurisdiction over law schools under its charter.6 Admission to Law School There is no centralized law school admissions test in the country unlike in the United States where there is a Law Schools Admissions Test (LSAT), which an applicant will have to hurdle before being admitted to a law school. In the Philippines, the law school conducts its own admissions test supposedly to determine a student’s aptitude for analytical reasoning and studying law as well as articulation skills and command of English. Strangely enough, some schools maintain strict admission policies while others content themselves to observing strict retention policies. The Supreme Court prescribes that an applicant for admission to the bar must have completed a four-year high school course and a bachelor’s degree in the arts or sciences.7 It is further required that an applicant to a college of law must have earned eighteen (18) units of English, six (6) units of Mathematics, and eighteen (18) units of Social Science subjects.8 The Law Students Based on a study involving more than 3000 law students in 1989,9 it appears that: 1. The average age of a law student is 29 years old, with a higher ratio of male to female and single to married students.10 6 PALS Resolution dated December 1, 2001 7 Rule 138, Section 6, Rules of Court 8 See CHED Memorandum Order No. 46, August 12, 1996 9 State of Legal Education, op. cit. pp. 86-87 10 Note: An informal survey among law deans in year 2002 revealed that females outnumbered males in most law schools for the June 2002 enrollment July 2003 The State of Philippine Legal Education Revisited 41 2. Most law students are oriented in the social sciences (44.56%) or in business (30.73%), the rest in education, engineering or criminology. 3. There are more working than full-time students. 4. There are more enrollees in private than in public schools. 5. By regions, about half of the total population is concentrated in the National Capital Region. The rest are distributed in the other regions, with Region VII getting the highest percentage of 12.78%. The study also shows that in academic year 1983-1984, a total of 17,855 students enrolled in law schools all over the country. This increased to 19,677 by academic year 1988-1989 with the average rate of increase annually being 3.57%.11 Applying the above rate of increase in enrollment to the last 13 years, with all other factors remaining constant, there would be around 28,000 law students today. Classroom Methodology Most Philippine law schools subscribe to the American law school teaching model. English is the medium of instruction. Class attendance is compulsory. The Socratic dialogue and the case method, both introduced in the late 19th century, are used inside the classroom.12 Many professors also give lectures while some require students to do research work, to digest cases and to present reports in class.13 It was Professor Theodore Dwight of Columbia Law School who outlined black letter rules of law through lecture but posed questions to his students that encouraged the students to analyze the law and to apply it to new factual situations. This method of dialogue, known as the ‘Socratic dialogue’, has become a cornerstone of law school instruction.14 On the other hand, Christopher Columbus Langdell, a professor at Harvard Law School, introduced the ‘case method’ of legal instruction. Langdell believed that law is a science, and that students can best understand the law by reading the cases that create the law, rather than by reading treatises or listening to lectures that describe black letter rules of law.15 11 ibid, p. 60 12 Irene Cortes, Essays on Legal Education, p. 35 13 State of Legal Education, op. cit. pp. 42-43 14 See Steve Sheppard, Casebooks, Commentaries and Curmudgeons: An Introductory History of Law in the Lecture Hall, 82 IOWA L.