Non-practicability

To my colleagues, our opponents, your honor/s, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!

We are strongly against the banning of law school fraternities.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no question that in the Philippines, the most glamorous profession
now is legal profession. For the law profession, among other professions, has the broadest
educational background for leadership in the community. A lawyer is looked up to by his community
for his ability to identify the goal values of society. And most of the national and local leaders come
from the legal profession.

Prestigious as it is, IT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT, EXPENSE, AND TIME TO BE ADMITTED TO

THIS NOBLE PROFESSION.

As the third speaker of the negative bench, I WILL ARGUE THAT LAW SCHOOL FRATERNITIES
SHOULD NOT BE BANNED BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO SO.

But first, allow me to reiterate the arguments of this bench:

Our first speaker said that it is not a necessity to ban law school fraternities because…

1
2
3

While our second speaker argued that law school fraternities should not be banned because it
will take away the benefits of the law students…

1. To practice their right to form an organization

2. To have a wide network and social life
3. To have more chances in passing the bar
4. To develop academic excellence and leadership

Now, on the other hand, “is it practicable to ban law school fraternities?” No.

[REBUTTALS] But before going to my arguments, let me first rebut some point/s of the affirmative
bench…..

Moving on, I have 2 points to raise, anchored to the arguments of my colleagues:

First, fraternities have become part of the “law life”; and

Second, humans are social and political animals.

Onto my first point, THOUSANDS ENROLL IN LAW SCHOOLS ANNUALLY AND EVENTUALLY
OBTAIN THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF LAWS BUT VERY FEW ARE ADMITTED TO THE
BAR.
 Lawyers had to take up a 4-year undergrad course to be admitted in law school and then
another 4 years or more of rigid study. Generally, only between twenty to thirty percent of those
taking the bar examinations pass. Hence, it can be inferred that admission to the legal profession is
definitely not easy. Imagine how depressing would it be for a bar candidate to flunk the exams
considering all the effort, expense, and time he/she has exerted. With this, law students resort to
joining fraternities because of its benefits, as provided by our second speaker.
Thus, fraternities have already become part of the life of, if not all, some of the law students,
esp. coming from poor or broken families, have parents working abroad, or are from provinces, for the
reason of finding colleagues or what the fraternities call it, brothers, making it impossible to totally
ban them. In fact, as already mentioned, the first Filipino Greek Letter Fraternity, UPSILON SIGMA
PHI in UP DILIMAN, was founded in 1918, which is now considered the oldest in Asia and continues
up to exist until today.
Fraternities can never be avoided; after all, we are all social and political animals.

Which leads me to my second point, HUMANS NATURALLY TEND TO ASSOCIATE AND

INTERACT.
In fact, there is this cliché line, “No man is an island.” Words from John Donne which means
that human beings do not thrive when isolated from others.
This can also be supported by Aristotle’s Political Theory. According to him, humans are social
and political animals. The argument begins with a schematic, quasi-historical account of the
development of the city-state out of simpler communities.
First, individual human beings combined in pairs because they could not exist apart. The
male and female joined in order to reproduce, and the master and slave came together for self-
preservation. Second, the household arose naturally from these primitive communities in order to
serve everyday needs. Third, when several households combined for further needs, a village
emerged also according to nature. Finally, the complete community is a city-state, which at once
attains the limit of self-sufficiency. It comes to be for the sake of life, and exists for the sake of the
good life.
As a matter of fact, the right to form unions or associations guaranteed by our Constitution on
the Bill of Rights is the freedom to organize or to be a member of any group, union, or society,
and to adopt the rules which the members think most appropriate to achieve their purpose.
Thus, how can we take away something inherent in us, humans? We cannot.
THIS HOUSE STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT LAW FRATERNITIES SHOULD NOT BE BANNED.
Because, again, fraternities have already become part of the “law life”; after all, we are social
and political animals.
Thank you and good day!