FAILURE means nothing to a determined heart. 

Anthony Mark Dulawan Emocling, who made history as the country’s first visually-impaired person to pass the bar, is a testament that failure is never shameful. For him, the right to become a lawyer or any licensed professional is never based on how many times an aspirant fails the test for it. 

The 33-year-old Emocling fulfilled his dream of becoming a lawyer after four tries. 

“Yes po, naranasan ko pong magfail sa bar exam,” Emocling said in an interview with republicasia about his experience taking the grueling licensure examination for lawyers. 

Reminiscent of the inspiring story of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Emocling took the bar in 2018, 2019 and 2020 before finally acing it in 2022. 

And just like the country’s third Miss Universe, he too endured voices repeatedly advising him against pursuing the law profession given his repeated failures and his impairment. 

“Mostly yung mga nangmamaliit sayo is ‘yung mga hindi nakatungtong ng law school na hindi nila alam kung gaano kahirap,” he said.

Thankfully, there were also encouraging ones around him. 

“Pero may mga positive naman po especially yung mga law students din kasi alam nila kung gaano kahirap ‘yung mga experiences, na hindi nila tini-take against you kung naka-ilang take ka na,” he said.

After all, what matters most is how you practice your profession, he noted. 

“Kasi in practice naman hindi bibilangin kung naka-ilang take ka or naka-one take ka lang. Yung importante is kung anong gagawin mo after you sign the roll of attorneys,” he said. 

Last chance to be a lawyer 

But determined as he was to be a lawyer, he knew he could not go on taking the bar forever. 

He gave himself one last chance to take the bar in 2022, and a fourth failure would have been his trigger to steer his life to a different direction. 

“‘Yun nga po yung sinabi ko sa sarili ko na this will be my last, last na last ko na talaga ‘to. Kailangan kong ibuhos na yung lahat ng kakayahan ko so naging positive din naman po,” he said. 

Fascination with the law

Emocling was one of the 3,992 candidates who successfully hurdled the bar, but what made his story stand out is the fact that he is completely blind and yet he did not let this stop him from pursuing his dream. 

He was only 10 years old when he lost his vision to retinal detachment due to an accident. But prior to that, he was already suffering from high myopia or severe near-sightedness. 

But even as he lost his vision, his dream to become big someday never dwindled. 

The thought of becoming a lawyer first crossed his mind when his grandfather lent him the radio tuned to the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada. 

His heart was immediately captured as he listened to the mind-twisting debates of the lawyers who were prosecuting and defending the former head of state. 

Since then, the Baguio-born dreamer planted in his mind the thought that he would be a lawyer someday. 

He took up political science at the University of Baguio, and even as an undergraduate, he proved that he’s got a lawyer’s smarts as he was a constant on the dean’s list and graduated cum laude. 

No simple walk in the park 

Emocling found that law school was not easy.

“Maraming nagsasabi na law school is not a walk in the park. Pero sabi naman po ng mga law student, law school is a walk in the park, pero it’s not an ordinary park, it’s Jurassic Park,” he said. 

But as a person with a disability, the challenges that he faced were more daunting.

He did not have easy access to law books that a blind person could use. 

“Talagang mahirap kasi walang readily available sa akin na reading materials. So kailangan ko magdoble or triple na effort para i-convert yung mga books ko and reading materials to an accessible format para mabasa ko siya,” he said. 

But thanks to technology, there is no such thing as “impossible.” He was able to use a gadget that converted all of his audio materials so that he could listen to these wherever he went. 

His entire law school life virtually fit into his pocket. 

“Parang siya na po yung magiging eyes ko, parang converted na po siya sa audio book and pinapakinggan ko nalang,” he said. 

The moment of reckoning

On bar exam day, the Supreme Court provided Emocling with everything he needed. He was given a human encoder who jotted down his answers to the digitized examination. 

“During the exam proper, yung encoder po binabasa niya po yung mga questions and i-di-dictate ko po sa kanya yung mga sagot ko and itatype niya po sa computer,” he said. 

Career direction 

Knowing that passing the bar is only the beginning, Emocling said he wants to pursue a career in public service and human rights advocacy, especially for PWDs like him. 

He is very much aware of the challenges that people like him continue to face, and he wants to do something to address these and improve the sector’s plight, he said.

“Kasi po kami yung very marginalized sector dito sa society natin, mostly mga naaabuso ay mga person with disabilities,” he said. 

“So gusto ko pong maging boses nila, na mas mapaintindi pa po ‘yung kanilang karapatan at maging boses nila sa gobyerno, na mabigyan din po sila ng tulong at assistance na magkaroon po tayo ng inclusive society,” he added. 

But he is not keen on joining politics in the future. He is simply bent on pursuing his advocacies as a future voice of PWDs so they could have more representation in the political sphere.