Editorial Dean Roberto A. Abad appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
August 11, 2009, 7:06pm President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has appointed a legal educator and academic, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Civil Law Acting Dean Ro berto A. Abad. Born May 22, 1944, in Tondo, Manila, he completed his basic education in the public schools and subsequently worked his way to college, graduating with a Bachelor¶s degree from Manuel L. Quezon University. He took his Bachelor of Laws from Ateneo de Manila, where he was in the Dean¶s Honor List despite working for his h is tuition. Upon passing the Bar, he joined several law offices of distinguished lawyers, including the late Senator Jose W. Diokno and former Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro. He worked at the Office of the Solicitor General from 1975 to 1986, 1 986, ending his stint as Assistant Solicitor General (the equivalent of an Associate Justice of the Court Co urt of Appeals) before he set up his own private firm in 1986. His 22 years of private practice pract ice covered myriad industries and services like banking, o il, food and beverages, shipping, port services, housing construction, motion pictures, and real estate. His litigation experience covers labor, taxes, crimes, co rporate disputes, intellectual property, family, and commercial transactions. The late Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion recruited Dean Abad from the Office of the S olicitor General in 1978 to t each Political Law at the University of Santo To mas where the Chief Justice served as Dean. The UST law school eventually asked him to also teach Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Election Law, Law on Pub lic Corporations, and Public International Law. He became a bar reviewer r eviewer in Political Law. After leaving the Office of the Solici So licitor tor General in 1986 1 986 to go into private practice, Dean Abad shifted to another line of expertis expert ise: e: Remedial law. He has since been teaching Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Special Proceedings, Evidence, and Legal Lega l Forms. To develop the students¶ skills in litigation work, he also began teaching Legal Writing and Trial Technique. He has also been a Bar Reviewer at the Ateneo de Manila University and University of Santo Tomas and has published numerous books and articles. Justice Abad is married to Atty. Victoria H. Martinez Abad w ith whom he has two children ± Atty. Blessilda Abad Gamo and Rex Niño Abad. We congratulate Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto A. Abad on his appointment to the t he Highest Court of the land and wish w ish him success in all his endeavo
By Delmar Cario Inquirer Northern Luzon First Posted 08:59:00 08/11/2010 Filed Under: Laws, Board Exams, Education BAGUIO CITY, Philippines--To be able to radically change the types of tests given in the bar exams, the Supreme Court intends to create a data bank or central repository of multiple choice questions (MCQs) for the 2011 exams. Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Abad, chairman of next years bar exams, said at least 1,000 MCQs would be collected for each test subject to be whittled down to at least 100 that will appear in the exams. Abad met here Saturday with judges and lawyers who teach in the various law schools in northern Luzon to tell them about the changes in the bar exams. He said multiple choice questions will replace the traditional problem-solving or essay questions that have dominated the tests since 1901. The MCQs, he said, are meant to address the flaws of the essay-type questions which do not necessarily guarantee the makings of a good practicing lawyer. He said the essay questions suffered from defects. The questions followed the classroom model which could not cover a wide section of the other laws. Sometimes, incorrect answers merited high marks since these were eloquently presented, he added. He said other defects were inconsistency in correcting the tests due to the mood of the examiners and the tendency of examinees to forget the basic laws. Uniformity and fairness in correcting the papers were not assured since about 6,000 notebooks had to be checked in five months, he said. On Saturday, more than 100 law teachers joined a workshop on formulating MCQs so these could be adopted in their law school exams this year. Some of those present found the task difficult and time-consuming, but most said they welcomed the change.
