‘I write this in fond
remembrance of Prof. Merlin who was more than just
a professor and coach to me,
but my lawyer too.’
ON New Year’s Day 2022, Prof. Merlin Magallona of the UP College of Law passed away at the age of 87. He was not the first of my professors to pass away, but his was only one of three that have affected me much (the other two being Prof. Alfredo Tadiar’s a few years back and Prof. Haydee Yorac’s much earlier.)
Dean Magallona was more than just a professor and Dean to me, you see. In my childhood he even served as one of my lawyers!
Like so many other children of UP faculty members, I was a nursery school student at the Child Development Center of the UP College of Home Economics. From there we were to move on to kindergarten under the aegis of the UP College of Education. But there was a hitch: the Secretary of the College of Education announced that not all dependents of UP faculty could be admitted because of a quota, and I was one of those who wouldn’t be able to get it.
I, together with, among others, John Encarnacion (son of Jose Encarnacion of Evinomics), Ajit Rye II (son of Ajit Rye of the Asian Center), and Mutya Magallona, daughter of UP Law professor Merlin Magallona.
Our parents, led by Prof. Merlin and another UP Law professor, Haydee Yorac, sued the UP College of Education. I guess we won, because John, Ajit, Mutya and myself ended up enrolling and then graduating not only from UP Elementary school but also from UP High School. My father used to say we were “fortunate” that Mutya had the misfortune of being one of those refused admission — otherwise how could we have afforded the services of
esteemed legal counsel?
Must have been the magic of Merlin.
Decades later I found myself a UP Law student and Prof. Merlin was now my professor. One day I bumped into him at the corridor of Malcom Hall and he urged me to try out for the Jessup Moot Court team, and after some hesitation, on the last day of tryouts, I did. For one reason or another he and Prof. Popo Lotilla chose me to head the UP team (this was 1987 or 1988 I think) but after beating UST we fell to Ateneo to determine the Philippine representative to the international competitions. It was one of the saddest of my days at UP Law as I let down the institution and the University — and my coaches as well. But Prof. Merlin was gracious about it and kept making sure I was taking things in stride for a few months after that debacle — which I took badly.
(Happily, a year later my teammate Carlos “King” Soreta redeemed our defeat and even bagged the world championship in the US. He is now Philippine ambassador to Moscow).
One thing I will never forget about Prof. Merlin is his having a big canvass bag behind his desk at the College of Law which King and I rummaged through while waiting for his arrival for our Jessup practice. What we found were little booklets, “Facts about the USSR,” which was not surprising if you knew the Marxist-Leninist background of our professor and coach.
Too bad I never got one for Christmas because a few years later the Berlin Wall was torn down and the USSR was just a memory. The booklet could have been a great souvenir!
I write this in fond remembrance of Prof. Merlin who was more than just a professor and coach to me, but my lawyer too. (And Mutya is one of my “oldest”/longest friends!) Rest In Peace, Prof Merlin. And thank you for your role in my journey through UP.
