Consti

I reached USJ-R at around 5:45 today. Yeah, late. My Consti class starts at 5:30 – with Judge Singco coming in at exactly 5:35. So, I was basically ten minutes late.

On my speedy cruise up (four steps at a time), I missed one step and banged my right shin. The pain didn’t register right away that I continued running up the stairs until I reached the landing in front of the library. There, I muttered “Giatay” and sat on the floor. I swear I almost blacked out. Perting sakita gyud diay intawn.

When the pain eased a bit, I continued running up the stairs until I reached room 308. I peeked through the glass opening on the door and true enough, Judge Singco was already there. Sitting in front of her, were the zombie-looking first year Law
students. When I saw one classmate’s life-less face, I remembered that it was ‘oral exam’ day. State Immunity and Suffrage. No wonder he looked like he was in a coma.  Oh
fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With all the courage I could muster, I went in and tiptoed to my seat. When I reached my seat, my seatmate, the class president herself, was busy praying to the gods. It turned out that she, just like me, wasn’t able to do advance readings. The first student sat down after a pretty impressive show of memorization prowess. He was able to answer all the questions except for the last one which I felt, even Tutahkamen couldn’t answer even if he asked all of Egypt to help him research. While Judge Singco was busy choosing the next index card to pick, my seatmate was also busy saying “Please Lord, not me!” over and over again. I looked around and the people, except for
those really bookish few, were either hyperventilating or were not breathing at all.

“Lim”, Judge Singco finally said.

And as my seatmate, yes the class president, was about to stand, the word “Pisti” escaped her lips. LOL.

“Yes, Judge”, she said. Looking all confident and brave.

“Tell me about the Absentee Voting Act and the status of immigrants as far as voting is concerned”.

The Seatmate’s answers were incorrect. Judge Singco’s eyebrow raised up to the heavens and her eyes ignited. She raised one final question – which incidentally, in a frantic page-scanning frenzy, I found the answer to. When Judge Singco finally told The Seatmate to take her seat, she was near tears. Instinctively, everyone went back to playing pretend and everyone in the room, was reading something.

“Romarate”, Judge Singco said.

F*ck!

I tried to appear composed when I stood up. I kept praying that somehow, she would ask me that last question that I know that answer to. Fingers were crossed. Then, in what could only appear to me as fate’s cruel, cruel, cruel joke, Judge Singco, asked entirely different question.

“Your family has been tilling this government-owned land for, say, 100 years. And you want to get the title of the land. Can you sue the government for the title?”

For a moment, I just froze. I didn’t know the answer. No idea at all! Zero. Nil. Nada!
In a desperate attempt to save my self-worth (and ego), I asked Judge Singco to repeat the question – although it wouldn’t change the fact that still don’t know the answer to her question.

“When you file a case against the government, will it prosper?”, she asked again.

“Yes”, I said.

“Yes?”, she asked with eyes literally blazing this time.

“Yes”, I said again.

“Are you sure? Explain to me the maxim “The state can never be sued without it’s consent”, she continued.

The earth trembled, the floor opened and everyone started screaming.

“Eat me, cruel Earth!” I cried.

BLACKOUT

I couldn’t remember what happened next.

But the moment, I came to, everyone was ready to leave the room.

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Pagbasa na lagi. Bisag malibang, basa!!!!!