From USC to the United Nations

Media

Part of The Carolinian

Title: From USC to the United Nations
Creator: Aller, Emilio B.
Language: English
Year: 1952
Rights
Fulltext: tfowi Stony From USC to,he United Nations Man’s destiny in life is really measured in terms of merit and capability by EMILIO B. ALLER College of Law \\ /HEN Atty. Pedro L. Yap, y |/ professor of the USC College of Law took a real big stride from USC to the United Nations to become associate officer of its Human Rights Division, his stride was decidedly measured in terms of merit and capability. And a lot of people knows how fully he deserves his new appointment. But when he left last August 16 for New York, after a dizzying whirl of social activities given in his honor, the countless felicitations of friends and acquaintances, the warm handclasps and the wellchosen phrases wishing him more luck and bon voyage to his destination, only the law students who had the fortune to be under him in class and those who are close to the affairs of the USC College of Law realized the great loss which San Carlos suffered with his leaving. For, in truth, only quite a few knew of his real value and worth to USC. He was so humble and self-effacing in his ways, anybody conversing with him for the first time would not be able to evaluate his true worth on face value. His erudition is unquestionable, but it was imperceptible in the simplicity and calmness of his bearing. Even in the classroom, his personality easily passed for pedagogical prudence. It was only on occasions, when necessity demanded it, that he was forced to show inklings of his erudition. That was when plucky students fired barrages of challenging questions at him. And when he gave problems for solution, he usually framed them up in such a way that a single problem involved so many provisions of law. ' He shied from showing-off. Students who expected him to wow them with his oratorical powers were disappointed with the softspoken cadence of his lectures. But Editor Aller interviewing Atty. Pedro L. Yap shortly before the latter left for the UNO. the effectiveness of his method of instruction, enhanced by the impeccable precision of his expositions in class, engendered the right atmosphere of wholesome seriousness conducive to effective learning, in his delicate task of imparting to the students the fundamentals and intricacies of law. They have recognized in him a veritable fountainspring of legal know-how an ordinary professor of law may well be proud of. A Carolinian by Choice The loyalty and devotion of Atty. Pedro L. Yap for San Carlos qua(Continued on next page) October, 1952 Pa g e 3 FROM USC TO THE UNO (Continued from page 3) THROUGH • by VNLIM The female population of the College of Law, "few in number but strong in spirit,'' formed themselves into an organization called the Portia Club. This club, together with the Lex Circle and the class officers, gave ihe first affair held by the College of Law. It was a dinner and send-off party for erstwhile law prof Atty. Pedro Yap, who was going to leave for the United Nations Assembly the next day. Everyone had a delightful afternoon during that party. Held at the cool, frcc’i, wind-swept seaside Barba Leach Resort, the sea breeze whetted the gentlemen's and guests' appetites while it spoiled the ladies' coiffures and whipped their After dinner there was a short program participated in and planned mostly by the Portia Club and emceed by the Lex Circle prexy, with interruptions and pinch-hittings by the vice-prexy, who greatly, singlehandedly, and successfuully stole the show. Why, he ought to be in show business! This funnyman veep of the Lex Circle is bursting with personality and bubbling with popularity. The usual, inevitable and indispensable picture-taking followed after the program. The proprietor of the place had obligingly contributed a number to the program with a song by one of his staff, a shapely lass. She had to do an encore . .. and our Lex Circle veep promtly murdered that encore by inserting himself and his antics. He successfully wangled a duet with her, and if that was murder, the audience wanted more blood! By a premeditated coincidence, the dancing began when the important guests (in other words, the Rector, the Regent, and the Rev. Fathers) left and the bus had not yet arrived. A handful of faculty members were around to join in the fun, too. For here was where the fun really started. You'd be surprised to find out the number of talented and musically-inclined students in the College of Law. (Continued on page 40) lified him as a Carolinian by heart. It is not necessary for one to be mentored wholly within our timehonored halls in order to make of him a blue-blooded Carolinian. The perisistent good works and daily earnest efforts which he meticulously has been putting up for the effective instruction of law students are mute evidences of his love for USC. His efforts may not be sensational within the light of newfangled showmanship. They may not be outstanding in terms of the extraordinary. But there is a subtle emanation in simple deeds sincerely done for the object of one's devotion. And when he assured his well-wishers that he will be back in San Carlos in one or two years after undergoing post-graduate studies in America while serving with the UN, he did so because he is a Carolinian by his own choice. USC does not hesitate in considering hitn a Carolinian by adoption. The Man's Story The whole story of Atty. Pedro L. Yap is nothing short of being etched in gold and silver. His scholastic record is a series of topnotch achievements. His story started when he was bom in San Isidro, Leyte, on July 1, 1918. He topped his class when he graduated from his hometown's grade school. He was an honor student when he finished his secondary education at the Cebu Provincial High. At the defunct Cebu junior College of the University of the Philippines, he was a full scholar for the whole two years of Pre-Law, and he garnered therefrom his A.A. title with honors. At UP, Manila, he was a university scholar in all of his four years of regular law, and he clenched his LL.B, degre cum laude in that institution in the year 1946. With the top scholastic honors he harvested in all of his years of school, the Bar exams was to him merely a luscious fruit ripe for the picking. He took and passed it as a topnotcher in 1946. It seemed that the plucky little big man's streak of luck could not run out because his luck was well intact within his gray-matter. In practice, he was on the ball and never behind. The promise within him showed equally golden and true. He first threw in his lot with Atty. Frank Brady as his partner in Manila, collaborating with him for about six months. By 1947, he chose himself a new law partner in the person of Atty. Adriano Garcia, and extensively practiced in Manila and environs in about two years. It was while he was connected with the two law firms aforementioned that he caught the eyes and ears of then Chief Justice Fortunato Borromeo of the Philippine Court of Appeals. After the latter's retirement from government service. Atty. Yap was prevailed upon to be his law partner in Cebu City. Atty. Pedro L. Yap first taught in the USC College of Law in 1949 when he pinched-hit for Atty. Juan Yap, a distant relative who was then a candidate for a legislative post and busy with his .political campaigns. He made such an excellent impression with his teaching methods and legal know-how, so that he was retained in the USC College of Law even if Atty. Juan Yap had already reported for duty after the 1949 elections. He taught in USC for about two and a half years until he left for his new assignment with the United Nations. The litany of extra-curricular honors he also garnered in the sidelines outside of his scholastic achievements while he was a student can fill up a lot of space. But the more important ones may be mentioned here. He was recipient of two Osmeha Gold Medals: one for excellence in debating, and the other for excellence in oratory. He was also awarded the Alunan Gold Medal for excellence in debating. In 1941, he was editor-in-chief of the Philippine Law Journal, official organ of the UP College of Law, while simultaneously serving as President of the Manresa Club which was composed of honor students of the UP College of Law. 'In 1946, he was editor-in-chief of The Philippinensian, the famous UP annual. Upon his graduation from UP, he was awarded the President Gonzalez Gold Pin for graduating cum laude. He was also made a member of the Phi Kappa Phi, an international society of honor graduates with Philippine membership limited only to honor graduates of the state university. All this galaxy of honors awarded Atty. Pedro L. Yap during his student days constitute the impress(Continued on page 30) Pa g e 4 THE CAROLINIAN FROM USC TO UNO (Continued from page 4) ive record of the man, the professor, and the lawyer. The man is eminent if we judge him rightly through his scholastic achievements. But, principally, the man is cultured with meekness and humility in spite of the greatness and erudition. He is an example of a learned man who has become too self-conscious because the more he learned, the more he knew that he still did not learn enough. His New Assignment When interviewed at the eve of his departure, he outlined to this interviewer the principal functions of an Associate Officer of the Human Rights Division of the United Nations, His job will be to undertake studies in the field of human rights and to prepare documentations for the United Nations. Atty. Yap's office will be located at the super-plush headquarters of the UN at New York City. The UN has a housing project for its personnels families, wherein about 450 families of different nationalities are accommodated. He and his family will be staying therein. By the time this is off the press. Atty. Yap will have been deeply engrossed with his new responsibilities wherein his talents will be put to use auspiciously, even if he would find himself amidst a foreign clime and foreign faces. He has that suppleness of capacity for work and of character to readily adopt himself to any kind of environment he finds himself in. Future Plans We had the audacity of inquiring about his educational plans. And he readily revealed that he intends to return to San Carlos. We could not help but be overwhelmed by his simple declaration. Here was further proof of the Carolinian by-word that "San Carlos is always where the heart is" for those who have been connected with it one way or the other. Atty. Yap expanded on his declaration by revealing that he plans to stay abroad only for one or two years, and while he is there, he will no.t bask on his undeniable security: he will take post-graduate studies in international and commercial laws. It can be (Continued on page 31) 'Kot t th (Contii Rudy: Sure. Easy. She and Cely, my classmates in political science, are bosom friends. Mario: (Stands up and rubs his hands). Well! Why didn't you say so in the first place? Doggone, What are we waiting for? Rudy: (Pulling Mario down to his seat) Easy does it. There are such things as formalities. And when I introduce you, for heaven's sake, act like your mother's investment in your education is producing results. Mario: "Ah Love, could you and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, Would we not shatter it to bits — and then Remold it nearer to the Heart's desire." (Al enters while Mario is reciting. He goes to the table center right, plunks his books on the table, orders coke, and begins to read. Mario glowers at this interruption in his speech). Mario: (To Rudy) Who's that Nostradamus? Looks familiar. Rudy: He should. He is only the president of the University Student Council, writer, woman-hater, scholar . .. Mario: And bookworm. Don't tell me. I know the kind. Woman-hater, huh? Looks like a case for a psychiatrist. Rudy: Don't get him wrong. He's not a sissy. Boy, look at those muscies. He just doesn't give women a tumble. Result: they are all falling on each other trying to catch his eye. Mario: Maybe he's just playing hard to get. Maybe he's ... (whistles) Whee! Look who's here. (Two girls, Nora and Cely, enter. They carry books and their copies of the Carolinian). Rudy: (Brightening up). Hi, Cely. Cely: (Smiling at Rudy). Hi-ya there, Rudy. (Mario stands up eagerly but the two girls go straight to another table, to the left and in front of the two boys.) Mario: (Growling). Why didn't you say something? That was your chance to introduce me. Rudy: Mario, have you ever known that there is such a thing as a psychological moment? (The boys look at their paper again. The girls seat themselves. As they receive their soft-drinks, they settle back. Cely opens her Carolinian, looks around and sees Al near the door). Cely: Psst! Nora: (Raises an eyebrow). Huh? Cely: Don't look now but there's Al ... I mean Mr. Alfredo Isagani. Nora: (Open-eyed) Where? Cely: At the second table from the door. (Nora pats back a curl in place and casually turns around. She sees Al and also the two boys. She frowns as she notices the obvious interest in Mario's stare). Nora: Who are those two jerks? Cely: Oh, that's my classmate, Rudy, and his friend, Mario, the campus headache. What's he doing now? Nora: Reading. Does he have to read even in the co-op? (Cely thumbs through the pages of the Carolinian). Pa g e 30 THE CAROLINIAN FROM USC TO THE UNO . . . (Continued from, page 30) Un page 5) Cely: Hey! What's this? Nora: (Looking at the paper) What's what? Cely: Look! An article written by "The Mentor" again called "The Trouble with Women" — Such nerve! Let's read it. Nora: (Reading aloud) "The trouble with women is: first, they do nothing but gossip." Hmm! I suppose the men don't. Cely: "Second, they dress to please the men." Is that so? Men don't know anything about fashion, so why should we try to please them? Il they have a grain of common sense, they'd get rid of that necktice before it chokes them. (Al hears the voices and looks at the girls sideways). Nora: "Third, they are always conscious of men, hence the war-paint." Eeek! Such unbounded egotism. I bet the writer is either a frustrated Don Juan or a rejected suitor. Cely: "Fourth, they speak hardly above a whisper in class but give out excited, ear-splitting shrieks on the campus." Why, . . . he . . . he . .. (Looks around and sees Al looking at them. Purposely, she upsets her bottle of coke and the tablecloth is ruined). Oh, I'm sorry, Nora. (Whispers). Let's take another table near him. He's looking at us. (Mario and Rudy rush to the two girls in distress). Rudy: Permit me, Cely, to offer our table. Mario: (Bowing low from the waist and eloquently flourishing his arms). Mesdames, allow me the pleasure of . . . Rudy: Cely, this is my friend, Mario. Don't mind his arms. Cely: Hello. Nora, meet two friends, Rudy and Mario. They often go by the name of wolves. Rudy: (Coloring), Now, Cely, surely you don't believe that ... Cely: Why, Rudy, surely you are not blushing. (They all laugh and go to the boys' table. The two girls sit between the two boys, Mario beside Nora). Mario: (Pleased with himself and the world). Uh. . . uh, what were you two so vehemently talking about? Nora: Oh, we were talking about this campus mentor who wrote the article, "The Trouble with Women." Have you read it? Mario: (Looking at Nora and hardly hearing the question). Huh? Oh. . . yes. . . I mean, no, not yet. Why, what does it say? Cely: In other words, it says the trouble with women is they spell trouble. Rudy: You should be flattered. Don't you know that you trouble us more than the atomic bomb, college exams, and professors all put together? Nora: But his article is so unfair. Listen. "Fifth, they love to be loved but scorn those lovers whom that love doth possess." So, he's going Sidney on us, too. Mario: Isn't that true? Nora: Well, of course, we are flattered by men's attention. But what do you expect us to do? Fall into their arms the minute they open their mouths? Rudy: N. . . no. But you should observe the rules of the game. Cely: See? That's what I think. You just consider it a game. Rudy: Now, you're being unfair. I don't consider it a game. Cely: Then why did you say — the rules of the game? Mario: (Wearily). All right. Let's call it the rules of court. Does that sound better? (Continued on page 34) inferred that he wants to equip himself some more for the good of San Carlos and the USC College of Law. His Impressions About USC We knew that those who are left behind would be interested in Atty. Yap's impressions while he was with USC. He averred that he found great joy working for an institution he has learned to love and uphold as if it were his own Alma Mater. He particularly pointed out to the congenial atmosphere prevailing, the brotherly relationship among the faculty members, and the benevolent and fatherly attitude of the USC administration. He was also convinced that the main concern of the SVD Fathers and the whole staff of the USC Administration is the maintenance of high standards of instruction for the university. He enthused that his two and a half years spent in USC was enjoyable and fruitful in the sense that students here are generally more serious in their studies when compared to other students of any average university in the country. Farewell to Our Little Big Man The interview was ended when the despedida party whipped up jointly by the Lex Circle and the Portia Club gradually dispersed after camera shutters had an overtime taking souvenir pictures of law-groups with the honored guest. Practically everybody in the party shook hands with him, bidding him farewell and bon voyage. That was last August 15, 1952 at Barba's beach resort in Talisay. What each one felt at the moment could only be approximated, not fully pictured into words. On the following day he left with his wife and kid for better horizons. For the nonce, San Carlos waits for his return. (Atty. Pedro L. Yap is married to the former Miss Flora del Rosario of Mandaue, Cebu, pharmacist and UP alumna. They have a bouncing baby boy, nine months old, who is christened Emmanuel.) October, 1952 Pa g e 31