Where do I begin?

​Due to insistent private demand of our publisher Ma’m Nelly, here I am in a computer shop in Pilar Village, Las Pinas City trying to eke out what would pass for a column this sleepy afternoon of Friday, February 13, the unofficial Valentine’s day of undocumented couples. First off, I would like to make clear that this attempt at column writing is purely uncompensated, thus preventing others from charging me with double compensation from a low paying  governmentposition. This merely serves as my outlet for sharing some thoughts on law etc. etc. that may benefit those willing to read from the scribbling of a 79 yo veteran of government and private lawyering jobs.

​They say that the best topic to write about is something where you know the true detailsof the story. And since I know about my life more than anybody else, this could be a good place to start.

​I was born on Halloween day of 1946 in what was then Lipa St., Sampaloc to Atty. Priscilla Angeles Villacorta of Bautista/Bayambang Pangasinan and Engr. Antonio de la FuenteVillacorta of San Ildefonso, Bulacan. My maternal grandparents were Esteban Angeles andCatalina Gatchalian. My paternal grandparents are Benito Villacorta and Narcisa de la Fuente.  My grandfather Esteban was referred to as abogadillo at  the municipal hall of Bayambang and was hearsayed to me through stories of my childhood as friends of Speaker Eugenio Perez and other prominent politicians of Pangasinan.

Evidence on this is my baptismal grandparents at the Quiapo  church on February 16, 1947 with Speaker Perez and Consolacion Villacorta standing as sponsors. I am told that my father Engr. Antonio got to know my mother Priscilla while building the Agno River Control Project in Bayambang because my mother’s side would appear as the owners of the riparian properties along the Agno river.  Thus, my father as Project Engineer long before the headline grabbing flood control mess we are in right now was able to build the riverbanks in the 1940s. My father’s boss would be Engineer Alejandro Villanueva, who would later be known more as the father of Nora Villanueva Daza and the grandfather of Bong Daza.

Since Engr. Villanueva was my father’s boss, as was usual in those days,  our family was easily at the service of the Villanuevas for anything at all.  After all, we were to live rent-free later in a Bureau of Public Works compound in Boston St., Port Area, Manila; thus explaining why I would be enrolled in nearby Colegio de San Juan de Letran for my schooling.

​So here, Ma’m Nelly, is my introduction of my column. It is about me, for a few more columns until the more serious topics of law and the future of the Philippines, through my crystal ball.  For the Law Profile part, my initial pitch is just to say that our Constitution is fine, it’s just that its provisions had not been fully implemented and properly interpreted. Bye, for now.