AMICUS, Latin for “friend” or “comrade”, is the faculty bulletin of the Ateneo School of Law. It seeks to build a community of law school faculty members who inspire each other and the studentry to be skilled in the science and art of the law, to be imbued with a burning passion for justice, and to lead in serving the nation for Vol. 6, Issue 1 • August 2018 the greater glory of God. Ateneo Law School holds 72nd Commencement Exercises By the UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE Surviving four years of college alone is a daunting task. It takes a lot of emotional and mental stamina to get through it; four years of law school requires even more. For the 181 Juris Doctor graduates of the Ateneo Law School Class of 2018, July 15, 2018 was a bittersweet goodbye to the school and environment that had challenged and pushed them to their very limits. Administrators of ALS as well as the Ateneo Professional Schools were there to see the graduates off, including Antonette Palma- Angeles, PhD, Vice President of the Professional Schools; Atty. Jose Maria G. Hofileña, current Dean of the Law School; Atty. continued on page 16 ALS faculty, graduates, and families filled up the Meralco Theater to witness the ceremonies. INSIDE ALS Student Council Launches the ALS App 2 By JOSE MARIA G. HOFILEÑA Japan’s Shizuoka Bar Association visits ALS 2 Dean’s Corner The 4th International Scientific Congress on Private Law at the Ateneo Law School 3 Professor Balane Launches I had barely warmed culmination of his term as chief administrator of Obligations and Contracts Book 4 up my seat in the the Law School, Dean Sedfrey Candelaria was on Ateneo Law School hosts workshop on administration of the hand to deliver an inspiring message at the Mass disaster displacement in the Asia Pacific 5 Ateneo Law School when and on the stage, to witness the graduates ascend ALS Welcomes Six New LL.M. Students 6 the task of overseeing to receive their diplomas and medals. In addition, Four APMA Students Complete their Regional Semester in ALS 7 the graduation of Class consistent with Fr. Ben Nebres, S.J.’s challenge Magis, Going Further Beyond: of 2018 emerged as a pressing matter to urgently to the graduates to dedicate themselves to the A look at the awardees of ALS Class 2018 8 attend to. The irony was not lost with me— my service of others, Professor Cesar Azucena’s over Cesario A. Azucena: A Tribute 9 welcome coinciding with a farewell ceremony. three decades of service to our community was Habemus Decanum! 10 Apart from celebrating the scholastic deservedly recognized. Commencement Speech: achievements of the graduates and dispatching But as endings are inevitable, so are beginnings. 72nd Commencement Exercises 11 them on their impending mission to carry out And in respect of the Ateneo Law School, we have The Face Behind the Office of the the values of the school in the real world, the already seen quite a number of beginnings. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs 14 Baccalaureate Mass and Commencement Exercises In the organizational structure of the Ateneo Island in the Sun: 2018 Faculty Development Seminar 15 of 2018 were notable in that despite the earlier Law School, there was a reinstitution of the Office continued on page 4 NEWS Volume 6, Issue 1 • August 2018 2 ALS Student Council Launches the ALS App By ROBERT L. ESCALANTE II calendar itself. Organizations also have the option to include their During the campaign period of events in the ALS App’s Calendar the Student Council elections at for the whole community to see. the end of the previous academic 4. Information Dissemination year, the students expressed their System. Through the App the SC concern about the inefficiency of Officers are able to directly send some of the services offered by messages to the students for a the Registrar’s Office, primarily quicker and more efficient means due to the lack of personnel. In to communicate and disseminate order to address this, the Student information. Council envisioned an app that 5. Events Wall. Much like a would handle queuing concerns in social media feed, it provides the students’ enrolment process. updates on the goings-on in the Working with a group of school. programmers, the Student 6. Poll Mechanism. Through Council launched the ALS App the App, the Student Council can during the summer of 2018. ask the students to vote and show What initially began as a possible day in front of the Registrar’s Office upload all the electronic copies of their stance on relevant issues platform to have the queuing to secure a queueing number. files that the students need from happening outside or inside the system done from the comforts of The night before enrollment, application forms, reviewers, the school. students’ homes resulted in a full- the students are given a number administration’s memorandums, Currently, more features blown application with features, and a timeslot. This has made and announcements. are being developed and will which include: enrollment smoother and quicker. 3. Calendar of School Events. be added later on. The Student 1. Queueing Number System. 2. Files dockets for all pertinent This contains all the projects of Council expects the full version of Through the queueing system, the documents. It serves as a storage the Student Council, of the ALS the app to be complete by the end students no longer have to wait all space for the Student Council to Administration, and the school of the semester. Japan’s Shizuoka Bar Association visits ALS Five members of the Shizuoka Atty. Ryan Jeremiah D. Quan of the about qualifying for admission offered to its Juris Doctor students Bar Association’s International Graduate Legal Studies Institute. to law schools in the Philippines and a Master of Laws program Communication Committee The purpose of the study and how the Bar Examination is that is international law-focused visited the Ateneo Law School on visit was to learn more about the administered. He also answered and is open to foreign lawyers. 06 July 2018 as part of their study Philippine legal system and legal questions on how the ALS sets The visit was facilitated by visit. They were welcomed by ALS education in the country. Apart itself apart from other law schools the Japan Embassy through Atty. Dean Jose Maria G. Hofileña and from these, Dean Hofileña talked by having a tracking system Masao Dan (ALS LL.M. ’16). NEWS Volume 6, Issue 1 • August 2018 3 Ateneo President Fr. Jett Villarin, SJ, and VP for the Professional Schools Antonette Palma-Angeles, PhD, with the delegations from the Universidad de Malaga and Universidad de Deusto. The 4th International Scientific Congress on Private Law at the Ateneo Law School by the UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE On June 5 to 7, 2018, scholars and access to health services Unit of Rappler; Rev. Fr. Ranhilio The Congress was then experts from different fields of and privacy concerns, C. Aquino, Dean of San Beda succeeded by the launch of Professor discipline gathered at the Ateneo assessing and regulating University Graduate School of Ruben F. Balane’s most recent book, Law School (ALS) for the 4th the use of technology, and Law; Ronald U. Mendoza, PhD, Jottings and Jurisprudence in Civil International Scientific Congress transformative education Dean of the Ateneo School of Law (Obligations and Contracts) on Private Law of the Philippines and enhancing the capacity Government; and Justice Adolfo S. and formally closed with a handing- and Spain: An Interdisciplinary of courts. Azcuna, Retired Associate Justice over of copies of the book to the Perspective on Emerging Issues. Among the presenters of the Philippine Supreme Court Ateneo Law School, the Universidad The congress was hosted by were Rosario Hofileña, and Chancellor of the Philippine de Malaga, and the Universidad de ALS together with the Universidad Head of the Investigative Judicial Academy. Deusto. de Málaga Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Deusto Facultad de Derecho, and the Philippine Association of Law Schools, in cooperation with the Embassy of Spain and the Legal Education Board. This was a follow-through of a similar congress held at the University of Malaga in Spain last 2015 attended by law deans and professors from the Philippines. Students, professors, and law practitioners presented their papers on various topics, including culture and heritage, civil rights and freedom, politics and self-determination, Former ALS Dean Sedfrey M. Candelaria signs agreements for cooperation with the deans of the Universidad business and economics, de Malaga and the Universidad de Deusto. NEWS Volume 6, Issue 1 • August 2018 4 Professor Balane Launches Obligations and Contracts Book By the UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE Lawyer and professor Ruben F. from the man of the hour, Prof. Balane launched his newest book, Balane enthralled colleagues and Jottings and Jurisprudence in Civil admirers in the packed Justitia Law (Obligations and Contracts) Hall of the Ateneo Law School. on June 8, 2018 at the Ateneo “I’d like to believe that in doing Law School (ALS), in conjunction this, in writing this book, in holding with the final day of the 4th this conference, we are planting International Scientific Congress the seed in the soil, hopeful that on Private Law of the Philippines it will eventually sprout and grow and Spain. and become a majestic tree with Prof. Balane is an expert in overarching branches and thick civil law and a long-time faculty leaves,” he said, referring to the member of ALS and the University state of civil law in the Philippines.