Oral Argument During a Pre-Trial Conference

Ok, So much for wishing not to have any Valenzuela and Caloocan court hearings. Just had one Valenzuela hearing this afternoon. It was supposed to be for the marking of evidence, I even prepared the documents and every detail necessary for the PTC. Unfortunately, the opposing counsel was extremely late and even insisted on making on offer to which our clients (the private complainants), according to this opposing counsel, should accept.

It’s annoying, really. Considering we’ve been through mediation proceedings and even the judicial dispute resolution proceedings wherein all possible settlements should be considered, if fair and reasonable. Sadly, in this case no settlement was ever reached. Why? Simply because the proposal of the accused and their good counsel is ridiculous and extremely unacceptable. It is unacceptable due to their failure to provide us with the supporting documents that will strengthen their allegation that the property they are offering to our clients, belong to the accused. I know that this is a case for Estafa which is usually a matter of a compromise agreement, however in this case, it’s as if they want to continuously deceive our clients by offering such a ridiculous proposal. Their offer was merely to provide a property for the private complainants in a certain amount which ALLEGEDLY belongs to the accused, but the only document furnished to us was a Certificate of Lot Assignment. Ridiculous, right? A Certificate of Lot Assignment can never be used as a sufficient proof that the person named therein, owns such property. What’s even more ridiculous was that the opposing lawyer, a veteran lawyer that he (or she) is, insists that our clients should accept that property because the certificate signifies the ownership of the accused over the said property. And the catch is that once the private complainants accept the offer, the private complainants would have to sell the properties themselves. Wow. Again, that is an unacceptable and ridiculous proposal.

During the PTC, the opposing counsel manifested that they have an existing offer and they are waiting for the response of the private complainants. Well, I reiterated in open court that their offers are unacceptable and that no proposal will be accepted by the private complainants. The private complainants are no longer open for negotiation and we intend to proceed with the pre-trial conference as well as with the trial of the case considering that a lot of time was wasted already due to the delaying tactics of the accused. The whole time we were there, we were just arguing over the same thing, again and again. This veteran lawyer is persistent and would not accept the fact that the private complainants will no longer consider their offer, ever. Since we were already going over the same thing again and again, I asked how much time do they need to be able to provide us with the documents but then the judge gave them another opportunity to provide us with the complete documents. One last chance. I manifested that without the documents on the deadline provided by the accused and their counsel, we should commence with the PTC and proceed with the trial.

It was exhausting, arguing with a veteran lawyer who can never accept the fact that they are offering something without any value and should not be given cognizance.

The funny thing was that after the hearing, when we were all signing the minutes of the hearing, we were already smiling with each other. I even said, “I’ll go ahead na PO.” I guess it’s our way to let each other know that we’re both just doing our job, nothing personal. 🙂

Filing Experience and Eat Fresh Satisfaction

I just officially personally filed a complaint with the Office of the City Prosecutor and the Professional Regulation Commission. It was exhausting. Really.

I was with my boss along with our clients, the complainants, since they were required to personally appear before the assigned public prosecutor for the day to sign and to take their oath in front of the public prosecutor.

The process with the OCP was quick, lucky that the assigned public prosecutor was not in a hearing that day, so we didn’t have to wait long. No assessment for the fees that were collected before, such as the filing fee and the oath fee, was necessary. Based on a DOJ Circular, all previous circulars that were issued imposing filing fees for criminal complaints filed with the DOJ and offices of the city and provincial prosecutors nationwide, were revoked. Considering that we filed a criminal complaint with the OCP, our clients were no longer required to pay any fees for such filing.

So off we went to PRC. There were a lot of exam registrants there. They were all processing their application for the examination to be conducted next year. Hence, there were a lot of people lining up. And us? We were there to file an administrative complaint against an architect. It wasn’t that difficult to deal with the legal staff of PRC but then there’s a docket fee to be paid and the line at the cashier took sooooo long. We only had to pay Php 235.00 as docket fee plus Php 10.00 for the LRF. So that’s Php 245.00. We were informed that we can pay that amount in any cashier window so we looked for one that has lesser people lining up. It took us about 30-45 minutes to wait in line. And finally when it was our turn to process the payment, the cashier cannot process it claiming that she can’t provide the receipt for the Php 10.00 LRF. So I insisted that she should talk to the other cashier at another floor to give them a heads up that they should entertain us immediately since we were in line for almost an hour already and we can’t afford to wait any longer. So we went there at the other cashier and luckily our payment was processed immediately. Back at the legal office, we had the pleading stamped by the staff. They were nice to even give us free fasteners in filing the pleading along with the annexes. And that was it.

It was just sad that my phone was out of battery that time. I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the long lines at the cashier, the legal office itself as well as the good food we ate at Eat Fresh Famous Hong Kong Street Food. Eat Fresh is the bomb! The Beef Brisket was a sure winner. It was served on a hot pot where you put the sauce on it and just let it sizzle. After that, try to get to the bottom of the hot pot to get the rice almost sticking to the bottom of the pot in its crispy texture. THE best. They also have this shrimp dumpling (I can’t remember the name of this shrimp in the menu. Sorry.) that was really really yummy. Actually they have all kinds of great tasting dumplings and balls. The squid balls with the curry sauce was a good one as well. Not like any other typical squid ball. We had the pancake balls as dessert that you eat along with the peanut butter sauce. It was a great experience. It was just so unfortunate for me not to be able to take any pictures of the good food we had. And the price? Super sulit! The hotpot rice meals were only for Php 135.00 to Php 160.00. The price for the balls ranged from Php 25.00-50.00. We also had this spicy chicken pieces which was good along with the HongKong fried noodles (Only Php 50.00). I would strongly recommend Eat Fresh. It’s just like a small carinderia at Banawe. 🙂 I also saw this blog about Eat Fresh. Truly satisfying.

And there you go… exhausted yet satisfied. I had a happy tummy yesterday. ^_^

NO.

So much for wishing not to have Valenzuela and Caloocan court hearings. Now this December is full of Caloocan and Valenzuela court hearings.

 

 

SIX MONTHS

 

Today officially marks my sixth month in litigation in this law firm that provides me the right amount of exposure. I am a regular employee. (That is if we will consider the labor laws.) I wonder if I have any additional benefit whatsoever from my boss…

Neglected Reminder

Here’s one of the most critical mistakes committed by my boss. I reminded him of the two hearings that were scheduled on the same day. These hearings were set in the morning and in the afternoon. Usually my boss would ask me to go to a hearing only when it is in conflict with another set hearing and if my boss doesn’t feel like attending a particular hearing. This time he asked me to attend the afternoon hearing.

The night before the said hearing date, my boss inquired about the time and schedule of the said morning hearing he will be attending to… again. So I replied.

The next day during the hearing, I didn’t bother reminding my boss again considering that he just verified it the night before. In the afternoon when I was at the hearing I was asked to go to, my boss was calling me up and I was wondering why he was calling knowing that I was in a hearing. Right after the hearing, I called my boss back and updated him about the events that transpired in my hearing. Then he said that the scheduled hearing he was supposed to attend to was in the morning and why did I not inform him about the correct schedule. I was like… WHAT? I told him that I even sent him TWO messages stating clearly the time of the scheduled hearing. And my boss was like… “Really? I don’t think I got your message.” Really now? So I immediately took a screenshot of the message so that I have my evidence in case the situation would be blamed at me. (Associates are the scapegoats.) Based on the screenshots above, he got the message, he replied to it once and asked it again the second time. So… duh.

It was a critical mistake since the absence of our client in the said hearing would cause him to be arrested again and be considered as an accused who jumped bail. During the said hearing, an alias warrant of arrest was ordered to be issued by the judge and woah that would be too much of an embarrassment on our part for failing to keep track of the correct hearing schedules. When I got back at the office, I immediately filed an appropriate motion for the said case in order to recall the warrant of arrest that was to be issued. Good thing I was able to set the hearing for that motion and luckily, the order was recalled and the set case was for next year. (And oh.. good thing I remembered that since I haven’t incorporated that setting in my 2013 planner. Wrote it down. Just now.:)

So to all the new lawyers out there, be wary of this scenario. Let’s not try to repeat this kind of mistake.

Finally got my Starbucks Planner

 

So… Let’s compute. For this planner, 17 stickers are needed. I bought 13 cups of coffee. Some friends gladly contributed the other 4 stickers I need. If I try to compute the 13 cups of coffee I bought, that would be 150pesos (the average price of coffee among the range of its sizes) for each cup, equivalent to… 1950pesos. That’s the amount of money I spent for this planner. Some friends would say why not just purchase a good planner at Fully Booked, Powerbooks or at National Bookstore. They also have good planners there at a price ranging from 500pesos to 1000pesos. Well, I liked the Starbucks Planner better because of the coupons and that sense of happiness I feel when I treat my friends for coffee just so I could get a sticker. And technically, I didn’t really pay for the 1950pesos just for the planner… At least I was able to share the joy of having a cup of coffee with friends and I got to treat myself as well. 

So I can say that the planner is just a grand freebie I got from Starbucks. Getting the planner was not the main purpose. 😀 

I got too excited to get a new planner considering that there are a lot of court hearings scheduled for next year already. Of course, the lawyer in me will always have a part in everything I do. That lawyer in me plays the main role in my life and I’m just a supporting actor in this real life story. 

 

 

Hell Week

Hell Week.

PAYDAY without PAY

PAYDAY without PAY.