Since its founding, the U.P. College of Law has always been regarded as a center of excellence in legal education. Today, our vision must still be anchored on the challenge of excellence and the continuing role of the College as the country's premier law school. This implies, among others, that the College, being a state-supported institution, will have to intensify its effort to consistently provide a first rate, relevant and public service-oriented legal instruction to its students.

The transformation of this vision of excellence into reality requires the concerted and sustained effort of the faculty, the students, the alumni, the Law Center, and the administrative staff. The task of bridging the gap between vision and reality, however, falls principally on three sectors: the faculty, students and alumni of the College.The faculty is responsible not only for teaching and research but also for the prescription and implementation of policies that guide the operations of the College. The students are at the core of the life of the College. They are the recipients of the programs that the College offers and their performance in various endeavors, including the bar examinations, their academic courses, and even extra-curricular activities such as inter-university debates and international moot court competitions, is so closely intertwined with that of the College that it is deemed to reflect the manner in which the College is delivering what is expected of it. Finally, the continuing moral and financial support of the alumni is an immeasurable help to the College in maintaining its standards of excellence.

The fundamental question to ask, therefore, is: How will the faculty, students and alumni respond to the challenge of excellence in the years ahead?

A positive faculty response to this challenge is heavily dependent on several factors. Among such factors are a college environment that is conducive to scholarship, collegiality, professionalism and goodwill; a fair and reasonable reward or incentive system; and a recruitment and faculty development program based purely on merit and fitness.

On the part of the students, they can play a pivotal role in our continuing quest for excellence. As a state-supported institution, the students that the College admits are, in a very real sense, the scholars of the people. As such, they are morally obliged to live up to the challenge of excellence and do their best in their studies for, in the final analysis, they are accountable to the people. It is, of course, understood that the legal education that they will acquire in the institution shall, later on, be made available in the service of the nation. It is precisely for this reason that, while still in law school, the value of public service must be made an integral part of the learning process, especially in the teaching of public law courses. On the other hand, the students, with strong encouragement from the College, should actively seek out experiences that will enhance this value. It is noteworthy that, in the College, we have the Office of Legal Aid and student-initiated volunteer activities where students can be immersed in programs that may substantially contribute to the further development of this value.

The alumni, on the other hand, have generously extended financial support for the renovation of the College. It is time to focus their attention on faculty development and welfare. To fully engage the help of the alumni, there is an urgent need to create a standing committee on alumni affairs which will coordinate with the various alumni groups in planning and implementing projects that will rebound to the benefit of the College. For their continuing support, the College should institutionalize the appropriate recognition ceremonies.

It has been said that the excellence of the faculty, students and alumni invariably reflects the character or reputation of excellence of a law school. This explains why we are able to say, with much pride and without fear of contradiction, that the U.P. College of Law is truly the center of excellence in legal education. That our faculty, students and alumni excel in their respective endeavors is a proposition that requires no further elaboration.

I am confident that the U.P. College of Law will continue, in the words of Justice Holmes, "to teach law in the grand manner and to make great lawyers."

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