It was 1994 when Internet came into Cagayan de Oro City. We have to dial-up to Xavier University.
That time, we were starting to build simple websites using notepad, and our favorite browser was Netscape 1.0.
In 1996, I joined a Telecoms company and there, with unlimited internet, i started to improve my website development skills. I built a fledgling intranet that got the attention of the President. Needless to say, in 2000, i was promoted to lead a ’start-up’ group to build the company’s capability in developing commercial websites along the B2B and e-commerce concept.
Thus start the development of various of website projects (dating website, online HR portal, Online procurement system), and my baby: Pinoylaw.com.
I think it was the first domain name we registered under the company’s Internet Value-Added Services (IVAS) business, and the first domain to be hosted in our fledgling web server, other than our own corporate domain.
Birth Pains
The concept for Pinoylaw.com is to develop it into an online portal for Filipinos to access confidential/membership-only/minimal-fee legal advice. The problem is, the company does not want to pay royalty to lawyers who will serve as legal advisor, and there is the issue of how to accept payments online (No paypal then).
This ambivalence from the company stymied the progress of Pinoylaw.com
A month after and still no support, i decided to adopt Pinoylaw.com and turn it into a ‘legal information’ website, linking other sites with Philippine law-related articles, and some worldwide law-related information/trivia. Too busy with other projects and Law school, i just made Pinoylaw.com a ‘repository’ of links to all legal sites i can find in the internet.
I created the first logo in a hurry using a Microsoft clipart. (Unfortunately, i do not have with me the original logo.)
Then i started a web campaign for cross-linking with other websites, especially Philippine schools. I think Silliman University was the first to accept the link using the original logo. I also registered Pinoylaw.com in various search engines, but i put my campaign efforts with Yahoo and Google.
However, in 2002, the company underwent another change in management that put a stop to our web projects. By then, Pinoylaw.com is due to expire from the company’s charge, so i used my own credit card to renew the domain and acquire ownership.
I still did not pursue commercialization of the website since i haven’t made up my mind whether I will join the web-biz bandwagon or remain a hobbyist. I choose the latter. And so Pinoylaw.com remained ads-free and I have to renew it yearly.
I badly wanted a new logo but my in-house graphics designer couldn’t give me a desirable logo. Finally, by stroke of luck, i met a professional computer-based graphics artist named Melvin (he is now in Oman). He wanted to get an internet connection and would like us to host his propose website. I told Melvin about ‘my’ own website and the need for professional logo. He said he will make one for me. And sure he did.
I made a redesign of the front page of Pinoylaw.com to introduce the new logo. And finally, the new Pinoylaw.com:
Pinoylaw.com – “Your Window to Philippine Legal Information and Solutions“
Description: “A Philippine-based website offering free legal advice online and vast links to Philippine law information.”
Pro-bono lawyers
Then i met Atty. Francis Ku, a young lawyer in CDO who also served us the company’s retainer legal consultant. I told Atty. Ku about my desire to provide ‘free’ legal assistance online using Pinoylaw.com. Atty. Ku agreed to do pro-bono legal advice for Pinoylaw.com.
I am not sure if we are the first website to offer such free legal advice online. But we surely are the first to give a confidential legal advice.
After Atty Ku, other lawyers actually applied to provide pro-bono services. One lawyer was from a prominent Makati-based law firm who once served as Mercantile Law examiner in 2004 (I think) Bar exam. There was also a lady corporate lawyer from a big bank base in its Makati main mffice. Another volunteer lawyer came from Quezon Province. Our company’s junior lawyer in Makati also briefly served Pinoylaw.com.
But it was Atty. Ku who stuck it out with Pinoylaw.com till I lost the website. The success of the free legal advice in the website could have not been possible if not for the pro-bono services of Atty. Ku. My million thanks to him.
I sent a letter to the webmaster of the Supreme Court website recommending a letter of commendation for Atty Ku. But I guess it was lost in the jumble of emails there.
Free legal advice
The free legal advice portion of the website was its biggest draw. We averaged 9 posts a day, but our highest was 15 posts in a day. 60% of the queries/requests for legal advice fell under Marriage and Family relations (separation, annulment, inheritance, paternity).
It was quite astonishing how many Filipino couples wanted to end their marriage for a variety of reasons. I think the underlying message of these distressed couples is that it is better to annul the marriage and separate rather than hurt each other and the children by continuing to live together.
Plenty of queries also for criminal cases (inc. BP 22, credit card, estafa), Civil cases (damages, contracts), Real Estate (esp. partition, lease, sale, rent law), labor & employment, and commercial law issues.
Majority of those who registered in Pinoylaw.com came from Metro Manila. But there is also large number of inquiries from overseas Filipinos, especially on marital, property, and finance-related cases.
Message Board
Since my development team has been disbanded the following year, I was force to create a Pinoylaw.com discussion board from a free provider in the internet. This message board remained active till these days, although a hacking attack on the provider’s server cause much of pinoylaw.com’s discussions to disappear (wiped-out) including the banner logo. http://p082.ezboard.com/bpinoylaw74510
Unfortunately, I forgot the admin log-in and access and now the message board is being spammed mercilessly.
Recognition
There was one time Pinoylaw.com was nominated for Philippine Webby Awards.
Also, Pinoylaw.com was featured in Philippine Star Online.
Notable Links from the Supreme Court website (prior to recent design) and Silliman University.
I also got email from Filipinos, home and abroad, thanking the website for the free legal advice service.
In Memoriam
In May 2006, in my quest to become an overseas worker, I totally forgot to renew Pinoylaw.com, and promptly, an American domain hijacker took over and registered the domain name in his name.
I had the chance last March 24, 2008, but the guy beat me to it to register the site:
WHOIS result:
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.REVENUEDIRECT.COM
NS2.REVENUEDIRECT.COMRecord created on: 2000-03-24 01:45:58.0
Database last updated on: 2008-03-14 21:01:30.927
Domain Expires on: 2009-03-24 01:45:58.0Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
I guess I will never regain the domain name back. I am thinking of creating a new domain to serve same purpose.
Even though Pinoylaw.com never attained commercial success, but the fact that it was able to provide adequate legal advices to Filipinos, home and abroad, was already a success story for me.
REFERENCES:
If you search for ‘pinoylaw.com’ in Google, it will give you the following selected links:
http://p082.ezboard.com/bpinoylaw74510
http://www.paralegalgateway.com/lawyerjokes.html
http://www.alllaw.com/international/http://www.pinoysites.org/phil529.htm
http://www.filipinolinks.com/Society/Legal_Resources/more3.html
http://www.washlaw.edu/forint/asia/philippine.html
http://www.gov.ph/forum/thread.asp?rootID=57849&catID=9http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/lig_primary.html
http://www.gov.ph/forum/thread.asp?rootID=8078&catID=9http://www.alleba.com/Government/Law/
http://www.hanappinoy.com/philippines/pinoy/9.html
http://www.yehey.com/search/categories.aspx?c=811
http://find.yuku.com/find/communities?q=+legal
http://www.pinoysites.org/phil40.htm
http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/forum/archive.php?Saang+forum+ka+pa+member%3F/3642
http://find.yuku.com/find/communities?q=+legal
2007 Bar Exams News and Bar Exams-related stories:
http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/news/courtnews%20flash/2008/03/03290801.php
March 31, 2008 at 3:22 pm
SNEAK PREVIEW of the LEX PARETO NOTES
L E G A L E T H I C S
Did you know that 34 % of the bar exams in legal ethics for the past 15 years, is taken from the Code of professional responsibility ?
Did you know that 78 % of the questions asked in the Code of Professional responsibility comes from Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 of said code ?
Did you know that out of 52 questions taken from the Rules of court, 29 are asked from RULE 138 for the past 15 years ?
Did you know that the “COMPLAINT” is the most favorite form asked in PRACTICAL EXERCISES, and that it has been asked for 20 times in the past 15 years ?
C R I M I N A L L A W
Did you know that 77 % of the criminal law exam is taken from the revised penal code, 19 % from Special penal laws and other matters compose only 4 %
Observations on book 2 of the revised Penal code:
Book 2 has a total of 253 articles of which only 75 are asked (About 30 %)
These 75 Articles are asked 211 times
Out of the 211 times these articles were asked 178 (84 %) were taken from those articles that were asked at least twice.
The most asked crime was on murder, followed by homicide, estafa, robbery with violence against persons.
R E M E D I A L L A W
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON QUESTIONS TAKEN FROM CIVIL PROCEDURE FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS:
1.) Civil procedure has 56 Rules. Out of these 56 Rules, 33 were asked.
2.) About 150 questions were taken out of these 33 Rules
3.) Of the 150 questions asked, 82 % were derived from only 14 Rules.
4.) These 14 Rules represents only 25 % of the total number of rules in Civil
procedure.
5.) The most asked article was on Rule 9 entitled “Effect of failure to plead”
followed by Rule 6 “Pleadings”, Rule 3 “Parties to a civil action”, Rule 2
“Cause of action”, Rule 39 “Execution of judgment” and so on. It can be
noticed that there is a very good reason why such rules were those that were
frequently asked. These rules walks you to the process of a civil
action. (Pleadings, parties, cause of action etc.)
C I V I L L A W
Did you know that the most asked book in the Civil law exam is Book 4 ? Book 4 (Obligations and contracts, Special contracts) consist of about 46 % of the exam in civil law ?
Did you know that 14 % of the questions asked in book 4 is about obligations ?
Did you know that 77 % of the questions taken from Book 1 are taken from the Family code ?
T A X A T I O N
Income taxation, Remedies and General principles constitutes 85 % of the exam in taxation for the past 7 years.
M E R C A N T I L E L A W
The corporation code, Negotiable instrument, Insurance code, securities regulation code, transportation laws, banking laws, maritime commerce and the civil code make up 85 % of the exams on mercantile law.
The other 15 % is composed of other special laws namely:
Asked more 9 times or more for the past 15 years:
- Intellectual property law
- Bulk sales law
- Insolvency law
- Chattel mortgage law
- Retail trade liberalization law
Asked less than 5 times for the past 15 years:
- Trust receipts law
- Letters of credit
- Anti-dummy act
- Flag law
- Electric power industry reform act
- Public service law
- Foreign investment act
- Investor’s lease act
- Constitution
- Other applied provisions of the code of commerce.
Quote:A famous bar reviewer once said, that only 25 % of the articles in the Civil code are going to be asked in the bar exams. The rest of the 75 % will never be asked or if they will be, they will seldom be asked. He quipped “Magiging ka tawa-tawa ang bar exam pag kinuha sa 75 % sa civil code ang mga questions.”
So what does the “Pareto principle” really mean ?
Quote:The 80/20 Rule means that in everything there is a “vital a few” (20 percent) that results in the “trivial many” (80 percent) For Pareto it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran’s work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems Project managers know that about 20 percent of the work consume 80 percent of time and resources. 80 percent of company sales will come from 20 percent of the sales people. 20 percent of the employee will cause 80 percent of the problems. The 80/20 Rule applies to almost anything, from management to science. So why can’t we apply it in preparations for the bar exam?
How can observing the Pareto principle in the bar exam help you ?
Quote:The value of the Pareto Principle for a bar candidate is that it reminds you where to focus your study on. Of all the laws that you have studied and read, only 20 percent really matter in the bar exams. Those 20 percent make up 80 percent of the bar exam questions. With this in mind a bar candidate should spend 80 % of his time studying the vital 20 %.
Some people say that we should not study hard but that we should study hard. Definitely that is true, however we should remember that it is more important to study smart on the right things.
————-
Contributed by : Atty Zodiac
Taken from the Pinoylaw.com Message Board
http://p082.ezboard.com/fpinoylaw74510lawstudents.showMessage?topicID=894.topic
March 31, 2008 at 3:38 pm
2007 Bar Exams News and Bar Exams-related stories:
2007 Bar Questions: http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/b…tion07.htm
2007 Bar Exam List: http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/bar2007.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/news/courtnews%20flash/2008/03/03290801.php
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080330-127231/I-just-wanted-to-pass-says-bar-topnotcher
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080329-127171/Regalados-967-remains-unsurpassed-in-RP-bar-exams-history
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080329-127168/First-bar-exam-in-RP-held-in-1901-with-13-test-takers
August 8, 2008 at 8:07 am
gud pm, sir, i hope u can help me answer problem regarding BP 22. ako po ay may kasong bp22, may nagmagandang loob na nagtatrabaho sa lwa firm para bumaba un hinihingi ng lending company. nagbigay ng 1 mo. allowance pero hindi ko pa po nare-raise ang pera at lampas na ang 1 mo. may nareceive po akong subpoena at kasama po ang pangalan ng asawa. pareho po kami pina[paatned ng hearing. tama po ba un na pati asawa ay kasama , e wala nama po siyang inisyu na tseke at wala din siyang pinipirmahan na dokumento. sana po ay masagot po ninyo ako. salamat ng marami at sana ay matulungan nyo ang katulad ko.
August 8, 2008 at 11:28 am
TO FE AQUINO:
I suggest you post your inquiry to Pinoylaw.com message board.
maraming legal volunteers doon to give you the proper advice.
here is the link:
http://p104.ezboard.com/bpinoylaw74510
thanks.
September 27, 2008 at 4:47 am
hello! i googleld pinoylaw ezboard, and notice the tagline “pinoylaw in memoriam”
wud just like to concur on how sad that u weren’t able to renew the domain. big help sa akin ung site na un. lalo na ung ezboards (na up to now exists, its just that wla ng domain)
i was just a 2nd yr law stud when i found out abt it, (me unli internet din kc s ofc) and i was a working stud then, so big help tlga. when i can’t research/ make notes, etc. ngayon lawyer n aq, and im proud to say pinoylaw helped me in a way. (katakot-takot na tips on how to be a lawyer b nman ang nakuha ko dun eh) iba ang pinoylaw, as compared w/ other legal sites existing today, iba tlga ang sharing of infos, tips, exchange of insights, etc. – made unselfishly, timely, completely, relevantly. by way of ending, thanks big time for it!
September 29, 2008 at 2:45 am
TO SANCHEZ ROMAN:
Yes, i followed your posts in the Pinoylaw.com message board. Sa iyo at sa iba pang laging bumibista sa PL message board.
Sana, patuloy ka prin bibisita sa PL message board at matulungan ang mga baguhan miyembro na naghahanap payo at mga tips.
Maybe next year, i will have the chance of getting back the domain.
So let’s keep the PL spirit burning by keeping the message board alive.
Marami pong salamat sa pagtangkilik sa Pinoylaw.com.
October 8, 2008 at 8:35 am
sir, thank you verymuch sa answer..sorry po ngayon ko lng po nabuksan uli ang musings..ako po ay may scheduled arraignment na on oct 14 at ang aking co-maker ay sa oct 15. ang suggestion ng aking co-maker ay bayaran ko ang blank guaranteed check niya na nilagyan ng amount ng lending na halagang 32k+.dahil ayaw nya umattend ng arraignment dahil nakakademoralize po un..alam kong totoo un, ang kaso po ay ayaw naman po pumayag ng mga kapatid ko na bayaran un dahil hindi rin naman po mawawala ang kaso ko . ang gusto nila ay mapapayag nila ang lending company na bayaran ko na lamang ang 43,500 (30,000 principal and 13,500 interest), kaso ayaw ngapo pumayag ng lending…ano poba ma-aadvice nyo sa akin? salamat po uli.
October 8, 2008 at 9:21 am
TO FE:
pasyensya ka na at di kita mapagbigyan ng anumang legal advice.
as i have suggested, go tand register sa pinoylaw.com message board and post mo ang case mo doon.
mas maraming law practitioners and nandoon na maaring makapagbigay ng tamang abiso sa iyo.
sa muli.
October 9, 2008 at 12:21 am
good am, sir
pasensiya na po kasi di ko po alam kung paano magregister pero nabuksan ko na po..medyo nahihrapan akong intindihin un steps..sige po, ita-try ko uli buksan..thanks po uli and regards.
October 9, 2008 at 6:38 am
Good luck, Fe. Im sure maraming tutulong sa iyo doon.
October 10, 2008 at 5:23 am
hi, sir
ang bait mo naman, sir….sana nga ay matulungan nila ako…thanks po uli and god bless
October 10, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Hi Fe, please post your query at the Law Student’s Forum…
Be aware that they can only give general advice or ideas, but do not expect that they will walk you through your legal problems.
If you need a lawyer, go to your nearest Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) for free legal representation.
October 13, 2008 at 8:56 am
hi, sir, gud pm
nagpunta na dinpo ako sa PAO and IBP, pero di po sila nag-aasist ng BP22..indigent lang po talaga ang ina-assist nila…anyway po, balitaan ko nal ang kayo pagok na po. thanks sa pagsagot po.