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Detours

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It is nice to see social media flooded with graduation photos, videos and reels. Every post is a testament of every student’s triumph over years of hard work and trying to get through daily online classes with power interruptions and internet connectivity problems making the virtual setup frustrating and toxic in the midst of a pandemic.

Kudos to all the graduates of Class 2021-2022 who have braved the challenges of online learning and have successfully completed their mission!

My congratulations goes out too to all the parents who have been with their children since day one, providing them with all the support they needed!

The graduates of the Communication and the Arts Program of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos*

Graduation is one of life’s very happy occasions. It is a celebration of hard work, accomplishment, success and a joyful send off for the graduate to what lies ahead.

Tertiary level graduates are all ecstatic about the world they will be facing after leaving college. I was once in your shoes and I very well know how it feels – it is a mix of excitement, joy, pride but also fear. The fear of uncertainty and the possibility of your dreams not coming to fruition. But life is not all roses. Some may have a good head start but others might need a bit more patience and endure not-so-easy routes going to their destinations.

There will be detours. You have to brace yourselves for unexpected twists and turns. Be on the look for road blocks and quick to find alternative routes. There will be distractions because in real life, getting to where we want to be is never easy.

And while you are wallowing in frustration, life will throw in more reasons for you to be discouraged and to feel hopeless. But do not despair. Everyone’s journey is unique. Life is never a race. Some people will get an early head start while it may take a little while for others to achieve their goals.

Do not be distracted. A marathon is won not by sprinting. Keep a positive mindset and a prayerful life. You just have to have faith, focus and a lot of hard work. Whatever happens, persevere! Forge on!

***

Atty. Rose Mae Ireen Santiago-Mayol during the Roll Signing Ceremony in the Supreme Court with husband Andrey and eldest daughter Salve*

Speaking of detours, her success story is one filled with detours, mostly heartbreaking. But, the series of unfortunate events that happened in 15 years since the first time she took the bar examination never discouraged her from trying, pushing harder and mustering all her strength, courage and will to achieve what seemed to be a very elusive goal – to pass the bar exam.

Rose Mae Ireen Santiago-Mayol’s mother was hospitalized a week before she took the bar exam for the first time. From Manila, Ireen had to fly to Negros to check on her mom. Two days thereafter, her mother passed away. As the eldest sibling, she had to make all funeral arrangements before going back to Manila to take the exam. Sounds creepy but on Ireen’s way to Manila for the first Sunday of exam, she was told that her ticket was earlier canceled, which she swore she did not. “I was simply too tired and too heartbroken to contest or rant about that incident; I just had to book a new trip,” she narrated.

After the first week of exams, she had to go back to Negros to bury her mom. As if she was telling her daughter not to take the exam because it was not yet time. And she was right, Ireen did not pass, and all other succeeding bar exams. But as she recalled that first try, she did not pass because of lack of focus, preparation and the resources, being a working mother with small children to take care of.

“It’s difficult for women to pursue academics or be an engineer, a nurse or a lawyer, if you are a woman who is a mother, a wife and a worker – all combined in one body – simply because you have a lot of things in your mind. You will always end up going to school unprepared. We know that law school is a jealous mistress,” she quipped.

After her second take, she let it out of her mind as she tried to reinvent herself. “In other words, I parked that dream temporarily. I was not sure if I was going to get back to it in the future,” she added.

It took her 10 years to revisit her dream for her third attempt. She was hopeful then but it took her many more attempts due to shortage in both time and resources, among other reasons. “The thing with RESOURCES, somehow, it can be remedied, but TIME . . . TIME is the most difficult to find”.

But, after 5 pregnancies bearing 3 kids, 5 takes and 15 years, Ireen finally got it!

“For the last time” I was sure more than ever. I was very conscious of my answers during the exam. For the first time in all my takes, I was able to finish my coverage – enough for me to say to myself, whatever question they will throw at me, I would be able to have answers”, she related.

And on April 12, 2022, Ireen’s name appeared on the list of 8,241 bar passers that the Supreme Court released.

She posted a photo of her signing the roll or the List of Attorneys in the Supreme Court with her husband Andrey and eldest daughter Salve. The caption went, “This chapter took eons in the making. Did I stop at some point? No, I paused. Did I listen to the noise of discouragement? No.  Did I feel jaded? Maybe. I learned that in this journey, there are moments that you need to pause, play deaf and be strong as jade.”

Ireen’s journey to becoming a lawyer took a lot of detours, mostly very painful and heart-rending but she never gave up on her dream – even if it took her a decade and a half. 

All those failures became condiments that gave her success its flavor. Sweet!

Atty. Rose Mae Ireen Santiago-Mayol

Roll No. 82652

BRAVA!*

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