SOMETHING BIZARRE

Weird indeed was it! There were only two lawyers in court today! The Honorable Judge, whom Atty. Dondon fondly called as Judge Mafia (LoL) and...I, respectfully appearing for the plaintiff. The rest of the SocGen IBP 'gang' are now in Bacolod for the IBP National Convention. I already made up my mind not to join the convention a month ago...or so. I was correct, my services would be needed - hence, necessitating my presence. I went to court three times! First, to file an urgent motion I prepared only this morning (I had to do the personal service and the mailing, as well as the filing of the same personally!). Second, to appear for the hearing of the said motion at 2 p.m., and therefore, I had to go home to get my barong. And third, to find out if Judge Mafia (judge no. 3) would hear the motion, in the absence of the absent pairing judge (judge no. 2) who should have substituted the absent judge (judge no. 1) in whose sala the case was previously raffled. See how it works?!

The lesson I learned? Make sure to obtain your 72-hour TRO either on a Monday or a Tuesday, so that you would have three business days within which to secure an extension to make it a 20-day TRO. The 72-hour TRO expires after 3 days from its issuance, not from the service to the defendant. Although it can be argued that when the last day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, you have until the next business day to ask for the extension, still, you must have lost already the two days when you could have asked for the said extension; hence, your chance is rendered slim and there is always the danger of losing that chance. I'm reminded of that principle in Corporation Law that if the corporation has already been dissolved by the expiration of its corporate life, there is nothing more to be extended. You cannot resurrect the dead. Can you? :)