Dean Sta. Maria urges law students to study harder, correct quo warranto "damage" someday

TO ALL LAW STUDENTS OF THE PHILIPPINES,

I know you may be confused as a result of this very controversial Supreme Court Quo Warranto decision. The fact that many of you are troubled says a lot about your concern for the rule of law and the Constitution. Are they in the precipice of falling apart you may ask?

Maybe so. And because it may be so, with more reason should you vigorously study the law and discover for yourselves the nature, extent and long-ranging effect of the ouster of the Chief Justice. And if you find that judicial independence, checks-and-balances ( the heart of a democratic system) and our freedoms are, in fact, the real victims of that decision, then equip yourselves with the legal know-how so that your generation of lawyers will be in a position to make right what you think has been grotesquely damaged.
These are challenging times that may lead you to question whether the legal profession you desire to enter is the noble and ethical vocation your professors say it is. I assure all of you it is or should be. And if you think the foundations are crumbling due to some deeds of a few legal minds of questionable motivations, then study harder, yes even harder. To despair and do nothing perpetuates the wrong. Rise and rebuild.

Do not just know the law, make the law meaningful to you, to your family, community and to your countrymen/women. Indeed know the law and serve the people.

You are the hope of the country

Dean Mel Sta Maria
Far Eastern University 
Institute of Law

Melencio Santos Sta. Maria, Jr. known as Atty. Mel Sta. Maria is a Filipino lawyer, broadcaster, professor in Ateneo Law School and dean of Far Eastern University Institute of Law since November 2013 replacing Andres D. Bautista. Wikipedia