Surigao del Sur State University’s (SDSSU) College of Law recently celebrated its one-year anniversary of its inception during the Philippine National Law Week last September 20-24, 2021.

     The College of Law conducted a week-long series of activities to honor its founding, which included online legal consultations, a virtual acquaintance and fellowship party, a motorcade in Tandag City, and a video conference on a field guide to law school with YouTube animated law personality “Lex In Motion” as the keynote speaker.

     The events saw the induction of the College’s first law student practitioners during the week as it prepared for the unveiling of its Legal Aid Clinic pursuant to the Legal Education Board (LEB) Resolution No. 2015-08 which authorizes its establishment. Ten (10) students from the Pioneering batch took their oath before Executive Judge, Hon. Edwin M. Malazarte, of the Regional Trial Court Branch 27, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, as the first law student practitioners of the SDSSU’s College of Law.

     The celebration coincided with the annual commemoration of the Philippine National Law Week and National Law Day. Presidential Proclamation No. 640, series of 1995, states that the third week of September every year is declared as the Philippine National Law Week. Furthermore, Presidential Proclamation No. 1477, series of 1975, declared September 19 of every year as Law Day.

     The LEB stressed that this year’s celebration of law day is a reminder of the enduring importance of the rule of law in promoting justice and progress for national recovery. LEB further stated that this year’s celebration of law week would “serve to remind the legal education community and the broader Philippine nation of the centrality of the rule of law during these changing times.”

     In the same week, the College introduced its newest batch, the Cratus. The Cratus is the third batch of law students the College has admitted in only its first year operations following the Pioneers (1^st batch) and Perseveros (2^nd batch).

   College of Law Dean Atty. Daniel Diaz last August said that SDSSU were commended by other law schools for having an abundance of enrollees despite the pandemic.

    “It’s very fulfilling because despite the struggles we finished a full academic year and that we got to create three sections. I’ve heard comments from other law schools that we have an abundance of enrollees. Overall it was not a bad start for a law school,” the Dean said.

     He also specified that the possibility of a blended form of in-person and online classes might be imaginable for the next semester as the cases and transmission of COVID-19 are slowly decreasing and the rate of vaccinations have increased.

      The SDSSU College of Law is still looking for new enrollees for the next semester A.Y. 2022-2023 beginning in January next year.