By: Tom Louis Herrera
San Beda College Alabang – School of Law (SBCA-SOL) is home to a number of excellent and well-rounded professors and mentors. If I were to take the next Bar Examinations, I would find it very difficult to choose among all the great mentors listed by the SBCA Centralized Bar Operations (CBO), as I would want to learn from all of them.
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Among the bar mentors in SBCA-SOL is Atty. Roderick R.C. Salazar III. Atty. Salazar is known and called by many as Atty. “Dicky.” He was born in Legazpi City and obtained his undergraduate degree in AB Economics and Bachelor of Laws in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. At present, he is a Senior Partner of Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar, a general service firm nearing 30 years in the practice. For Atty. Dicky, he has been in the practice of law for 35 years, specializing in Corporate and Commercial Law, Projects, Mining and Energy Law, Mergers and Acquisition, and Real Estate Law. He also teaches Corporation Law in UP College of Law, SBCA-SOL, and De La Salle University – Tañada-Diokno College of Law. He is also the incumbent President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) – Makati Chapter. With these credentials, I would definitely be among those who will line up for him to become my mentor.
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Atty. Dicky started to mentor for the Bar in 2018. From that year until the 2020/2021 Bar Examinations, he mentored a total of 10 students. For this year’s Bar Examination, he has 3 mentees whom he is closely mentoring. His willingness to extend his help beyond the classroom subjects that he teaches and also in the matter of how to prepare for and to hurdle the Bar Exams were among his motivations in becoming a bar mentor. He also thought that he could guide them not only on the substantive aspects of the bar subjects, but also on how to approach the challenges of the Bar.
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When asked how he manages his time in working and in teaching while mentoring for the Bar, Atty. Dicky answered, “Since I have fixed my teaching schedule and adjusted my work schedule around it, I have expanded that adjustment by including the meetings with the mentees which started with in-person meetings in the pre-pandemic days and during the Best Bar Ever and now, by way of Zoom meetings, and through Viber messages.”
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According to Atty. Dicky, there is a difference between him as a professor to several students in class and him as a mentor to bar takers. As a professor, he would lecture and test students on the substantive aspects of the subject and then grade them. He also said that there is some level of strictness and rigidity in being a professor. On the other hand, as a mentor, he does not focus much on the substantive aspect, as he expects his mentees to already possess the knowledge acquired over the 4 or 5 years in the school of law. Rather, according to him, he is more relaxed and more encouraging to his mentees stressing to them to have confidence and to rest in the assurance that the SBCA-SOL professors have taught them well and prepared them to face the Bar with relative confidence and fundamental knowledge of what the law is and what the likely Bar questions would be. Here, I could imagine the light-mood conversations we normally have before starting our class coupled with cool background songs from Dua Lipa, Blackpink and the like. Kidding aside, Atty. Dicky as a bar mentor is truly “all-in” given that you know you have someone, a mentor to look up to and be inspired, a father that guides you, and a friend ready to journey with you in the most challenging path of taking the bar exam.
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Atty. Dicky regularly meets his mentees online and sends mock bar exams to them, commenting on their manner of answering. According to him, he tried his best to send words of encouragement and whatever information he could gather with respect to the Bar. He likewise tried his best to comply with the Bar Mentors Handbook shared by the CBO, which he regards as very useful. Atty. Dicky also wanted his mentors to recall that he tried his best to be a caring and thoughtful mentor and that, in his own little way, he was not a burden to them but was of help.
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His message to his mentees is to have faith in God for He is good all the time and that all the time, God is good. He also wanted his mentees to look at the value of hard work, discipline, following an organized and strict regimen for studying as well as keeping oneself healthy. “Review, study, and then review and study the Law. Recall the basics taught by your esteemed professors. Answer in a logical, short, and precise manner. Pray, pray, and pray,” Atty. Dicky added.
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Finally, here is Atty. Dicky’s message for all bar takers: “The 2022 Bar Exams promises to be quite different from the Best Bar Ever as it is an effort of the Supreme Court to return to normalcy. So, approach and take with greater determination and confidence. Know that the Happiest Law School has provided you the best law education available through your beloved professors. Recall their lessons with fondness so that when you answer those Bar questions, you may do so with self-assurance and firm trust. Good luck, God bless you, and see you when you take your Oath as a Lawyer. Join the IBP Makati Chapter!”