University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi
The Premier Dominican University of Bicol
The Premier Dominican University of Bicol
Future lawyers and soon-to-be legal practitioners gathered at the UST-Legazpi Dome for this year’s St. Raymond De Peñafort Lecture. Headed by the College of Law through its Student Council, the said event focused on giving a glimpse of law as a practice at this time when trials are being held informally on social media platforms (e.g. cancel culture, bashing, hard banters, etc.).
Sharing his expertise on the matter is Atty. Aaron M. Dimaano, an alumnus of UST-Legazpi and the current Board Secretary of the Legal Education Board (LEB).
Sharing insights as to where humanity will be heading should the administration of justice continues to occur strongly on social media, Atty Aaron cited that human solidarity will be put at risk. While it is normal to disagree and face disinformation on digital platforms, the said lawyer stressed that eventually, communities will be threatened.
“Right now, we are really divided. I believe that we have different beliefs but we can still agree as one community. We need to do this because we want to have a better future,” he stated.
“We are so focused on being correct that we forget that we are supposed to make this country and this community work for us. Hopefully, we’d be able to stop ourselves from treating this toxic environment,” he continued.
To combat this, Atty. Dimaano reminded everyone that behind every profile on social media is a human being that deserves respect. He reminded that one can give out opinions without disrespecting, moreover, destroying another.
“If we remember that we are all human beings, I think we can remember, too, that everybody deserves a level of respect,” Atty. Dimaano added.
He also segued this message to all Legazpi Thomasians who aspire to be legal practitioners that hopefully, they can discover that their greatest contribution, apart from their skills, can be in a form of kindness, empathy, and respect for each other.
“Just by not being a part of cancel or toxic culture and applying it in whatever field that they are, that goes a long way to convince other people to do the same.”