Rudy ortea, a class valedictorian, was third in the top 10 Bar Exams. Screengrab from University of Batangas Facebook account.
MANILA, Philippines – Rudy Ortea is off to a great start. When he graduated from criminology, he topped the board exams in 2008. Six years later, he was the top three in the 2013 Bar exams.
It was no ordinary feat, and Ortea said he can only attribute his success to his father, Romeo Ortea, who raised him by working as a tricycle driver.
Ortea got 89.2 percent in the criminology board exams. He got 84.2 percent in the latest bar.
“I learned hard work and patience from my father. The way he works, he doesn’t get tired (Sa sipag at tiyaga nakita ko sa father ko. The way he works walang paguran),” said Ortea, who got his law degree from the University of Batangas.
A staff from the university told INQUIRER.net over the telephone that as far as she knows, this is the first time a graduate from this school made it into the Top 3 of the Bar exams.
Ortea was also grateful for his mother, a cooperative clerk whom he described as a “tiger mom.”
“She wants her children to be the best… To others, she seemed like a snob. But I know she only pushes us to our limits for us to be the best,” Ortea said in Filipino.
The 27-year-old graduated with a degree in criminology from the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas in 2008. He said he finished his studies through a scholarship grant.
He then taught criminology classes and paid for his law degree in the University of Batangas in 2009.
He juggled both work and studies while in law school. He said he sacrificed his rest day reading the voluminous readings for law.
“My rest is my work,’’ said Ortea, who was also a forensic laboratory custodian in Lyceum.
Ortea is now engaged to his girlfriend of seven years. Ortea said his only rest day was to be with his fiancée.
But besides law and love, what does he do to keep himself sane? “Candy Crush,” Ortea said, referring to the phone game application. “It’s my way of removing stress.”
Ortea also said he owed his accomplishments to his strong Catholic faith. He prayed the Novena to St. Jude nine days before the Bar month and before the Bar exams.
Tuesday was his last day of the nine days he has been praying the novena before the release of the bar exams. “It’s my way of saying my thanks,” Ortea said.
RELATED STORY
UP tops bar exam; 1,174 make it