History of My Life - Part G: 3 - Lawyer

3. Father told me that the only way we can restore the boundaries or fences of our property on the West and North sides and to prevent our neighbor's rainwater from falling off its roof into our property on the East side is for me to become a LAWYER. But he could not send me to college after my graduation from H.S. in 1935. That year I worked as a laborer in the Bureau of public Works of Mountain Province earning P0.45 or less than $0.25 (a quarter) a day because I was below 18 years old. When I became 18 in May 1936, I enrolled as a Private in the 39th P.C. Company in Kiangan, Ifugao.

That same year I was transferred to the Headquarters, P.C. in Manila as the orderly of Gen. Paulino Santos. I went to a night school taking up stenography, typewriting and bookkeeping the next day after my arrival in Manila. Then I enrolled in the Far Eastern University in 1937, taking a course of Pre-Law.

That same year an incident that led to my uninterrupted night studies without being detailed on guard duty happened in a most unusual way. Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, Staff Officer of Gen. Douglas MacArthur came to Hq. Phil. Army for copies of a staff meeting from my boss, Major Elias Dioquino, Sec. Gen. Staff, P.A. I was the only enlisted man in the S.G.S. office charged with filing all TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL & RESTRICTED files of the Phil. Army. I was the only one holding the keys to the filing cabinets.

That day I went to sleep in my Boarding House immediately after I was relieved from Guard Duty at 6 AM. I did not wake up until noon time to take my meal, put on my uniform and walked to the APA near the Manila City Hall. Right away I was placed under arrest and brought to Major Dioquino, who gave me a bawling out for being AWOL. He said that Major Eisenhower was there to get copies of the General Staff Meeting for Gen. MacArthur and I was not there to open our classified files cabinet. I told him that I went to sleep after my night guard duty.

He called for my C.O. and told him, "From now on remove the name of Sibayan from your duty rosters, including your guard roster. He is my only enlisted man in this office and I need him every day."

My C.O. said, "Yes sir!", saluted then left.

From 1937 to 1941 when the war broke out, I was free to go to school after office hours. I got a free scholarship in the Arellano Law College for having an average over 85% in my report card. Hence, I finished my law course on scholarship because after the War I got a Veteran's Educational Benefit, including my Review Course for the Bar Examination in 1949. The results of the Exams were released in 1950.

And so, my father's wish, like that of my mother's, was fulfilled in that year when I became a full-fledged LAWYER and a CAPTAIN at the same time. Thanks be to God!