Perseverance pays off
Better late than never.
The Local Civil Registrar of the town of Maria in Siquijor has passed the Bar examinations on his fourth try, after 35 years.
Atty. Jay Anoos Tayros, 59, said becoming a lawyer was his dream since he was in fifth grade.
Their family had a civil case with a party who tried to lay claim over their ricefield. They eventually won back their farm, and that gave him the fascination for the legal profession. “I decided to become a lawyer,” he told the MetroPost.
But Tayros’ path to becoming a lawyer took some time. After his high school studies, he had to cross the sea to Dumaguete to pursue higher education. He took his pre-law at Foundation University, and his law course at Silliman University, graduating in 1989.
“My first attempt at taking the Bar was in 1989. Then I tried to take the 1999 Bar but I backed out, eventually retaking it in 2000,” the new lawyer recalled.
Despite his unsuccessful attempts at hurdling the Bar, he was hired by the Department of Agrarian Reform as a paralegal, which enabled him to handle cases for the next 10 years in behalf of tenants. Atty. Tayros was also a Notary Public in his municipality for 12 years.
It was the Presiding Judge at the DAR Adjudication Board, Vivian Maquiling, who encouraged him to retake the Bar.
For someone from the Cebuano-speaking provinces, going to Manila to take the Bar can be quite stressful. “You have to adjust to [speaking in] Tagalog; travel [to Manila] is far from Siquijor; and you are away from your family,” he said.
Then he was appointed Local Civil Registrar of his hometown. “In my job as the LCR, we make petitions to file ‘correction of entries’ in birth certificates, which is also part of the legal practice. That also encouraged me to continue to become a lawyer,” he said.
After his wife’s death in 2012, Atty. Tayros became a solo parent, and took out loans to finance the education of their two sons – loans that he continues to pay for to this day. His eldest passed the Accountancy board exam; the youngest passed the Criminology exam. Both work and live abroad.
“I’m all alone at home now so when I heard of the innovations of the Supreme Court in computerizing and decentralizing the examinations, I thought of giving the Bar one last try,” he said. He said using a computer to answer the Bar questions would give him an edge because then, the examiners would not have difficulty reading his bad penmanship — which turns worse, he said, when under time pressure.
His sons encouraged him on his plan to retake the Bar one more time, and even paid for his review in October 2022 at the Chan Robles Review Center. In November 2023, he took refresher courses at the University of San Jose Recoletos in Cebu City. Then in May this year, he enrolled in the USJR Pre-Bar Review.
To his delight, he learned that the classes were conducted online, which meant he did not anymore have to travel from Siquijor to Cebu.
But reviewing online also had its low moments. “I felt sentimental. Looking at my fellow reviewees on the computer monitor, I didn’t know everyone, and I had no one to ask if I had questions.”
Tayros finally took the Bar on three Sundays of September (8, 11, and 15) at USJR in Cebu, where he recalled having a challenging time answering the questions for Remedial Law. “That was the killer subject for me,” he said, noting that he also had a difficult time with the same subject in his previous Bar attempts.
Tayros spent the following weeks waiting and praying. He also buried himself in work to keep him occupied.
When Dec. 13 finally came, Tayros kept checking his computer for the Bar results. Finally at 1:30 p.m., the Supreme Court released the results, and Tayros saw his name among the passers. “I immediately fell on bended knees, and shouted, ‘Thank you, Lord, for answering my prayers!’ I was excited, and overwhelmed by happiness.”
Reflecting on his experience, Atty. Tayros said age is not a hindrance in becoming a lawyer. He advises those who did not make it in the Bar in the past to just retake the exam.
“It is easier to review now because there is a syllabus. You just have to select what are the probable subjects, and read up on the latest jurisprudence. There’s also the Internet, where you can be updated of the latest leading cases,” he said.
He said if one just decided to stop taking the Bar because he did not succeed in his previous attempts, he would have already failed. “If you keep trying, you still have a chance of becoming a lawyer someday! But once you give up, you will have lost that chance forever,” he said.
Court of Appeals Associate Justice Pamela Ann Maxino, who was a classmate of Tayros in law school at Silliman, said their fellow students have expressed elation over their “cool, shy, and quiet” classmate’s passing the Bar examinations.
Former Labor Attache Ponciano Ligutom, another classmate and neighbor of Tayros, said Jay is a friendly person who belongs to an educated and respected clan of Maria, Siquijor. Ligutom also lauded the new lawyer for prioritizing the education of his children over his love life after his wife passed on.
Even as the newest lawyer in the town of Maria, Atty. Tayros said he does not expect an increase in salary grade as he is already currently occupying a Department head position. He said, however, he intends to ask the permission of the town’s Local Chief Executive to permit him, as a government employee, to practice his legal profession. “And I can notarize the documents of those seeking the assistance of my office pro-bono,” he said.
Atty. Tayros said he hopes his story will also encourage his friends who have had unsuccessful attempts at passing the Bar to give it one more try. (Alex Rey Pal)
