To Those Who Decided to Stay at the SSC-R Manila Law School, and the Religious

Fathers:
This is an opinion and observations from one who used to teach at the SSC-Law
Recoletos, Manila.
I respect your decision to stay at San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Manila. SSC-R is a
good law school. I was part of its growth and development and Im proud of it. I was
already there as a law professor during the time of Dean Rufus Rodriguez. The law
school was still in the old high school building then. There was yet no College of Law
building at that time. The College of Law population was yet very small. Even the Bar
review could hardly attract a hundred reviewees. It was then a very minor law school in
the heart of Metro Manila. Practically, it was unknown. Then came Dean Willard Riano.
The movement began. From an unknown entity, it began to attract law students. Its law
review increased enormously. Painstakingly, it was nurtured in about eleven years and
metamorphosed into something big with a population of no less than a thousand. Its
bar review became the biggest in the entire country, surpassing even that of UP, San
Beda, Arellano, and Ateneo - the big law review schools at that time. Even UP and San
Beda graduates were attracted by the bar review. Reviewees from the provinces flocked
to it.
Then, the decline began. After the term of Dean Riano ended about three years ago and
the entry of the Dynamic Duo who took over, the situation dramatically changed for the
worst. The atmosphere is no longer friendly. Law students were treated as if they were
high school students. Those who cant pay tuition fee on time were subjected to verbal
abuse and indignities in the classroom. Basketball became the primary objective of the
law school. Classes were suspended and students were coerced to attend the
basketball games, especially if the professors were the ones playing, under pain of
being penalized. The small prayer niche set-up for Muslim bar reviewees was not
maintained. The sale of Bar Review T-shirts (and even jackets) at exorbitant prices was
made mandatory with threatened academic sanctions for non-compliance.
The regular population nose-dived to barely a few hundred students (who belonged
mostly to the privileged frat/sorority of the two). The exodus to other law schools
began PCU, UE, Centro Escolar, UM, Arellano, and even Adamson. The movement
out of SSC law continues unabated with the same abusive and tyrannical policies. SSC
Law is going, going, going down. This is the present sad state of the SSC-R Manila.

To the Religious Fathers: The ball is in your hands. Be decisive! Your timely intervention
is needed to salvage the situation. Unfortunately, not much time is left. The second
semester is about to begin. Unless significant changes are introduced in the leadership
of the law school, there may be no more law school to speak of. No amount of costly
commercial advertisements in the newspapers can attract enrollees and transferees.
The bar review next year is set to start with too many competitors. The competitive edge
of SSC-R is no longer there. This is a reality that stares all of us in the face.
Bravo Baste! Can you hear me? Is someone listening?