Challenges may knock you down at some point, but what matters is you get up and fight. This summarizes the journey of Kalinga’s first Doctor-lawyer, Maria Linda Gabit-Gavino, who recently took her oath five years since she passed the Bar Examination.
“Uray nu agsangsangit ka dita, bay-am nga agsangit ka lattan. Normal diay. You let it go… and then bumangon ka and fight,” she stressed as she looks back on her rocky journey to success.
Doctor and Attorney Maria Linda also known as 'Mayyeen', who is from Naneng, Tabuk City, and Mangali, Tanudan passed the Bar Exam in 2017 but it was only this February 16, 2022, that she was able to take her oath as a full-fledged lawyer.
What prompted Dr. Gabit to go to law school?
Maria Linda narrated to Guru Press that she was already in the medical profession for two decades when she learned from Dr. Eduardo Bagtang in 2011 that Kalinga State University, then Kalinga-Apayao State College, opened Bachelor of Laws and Letters.
At that time, she was charged by the Commission on Audit for Violation of Article 217 or Malversation of Public Funds before the Regional Trial Court; Violation of Presidential Decree 1445 for granting cash advance, even the previous one was not yet liquidated before the Municipal Trial Court Tanudan; and she was charged administratively before the Civil Service Commission.
With these, she was challenged to go to law school for her to have knowledge of legal proceedings and to be able to defend herself alongside her lawyer, now Judge Randy Bulwayan.
While it is normal to get nervous when you are charged, Maria Linda asserted that nothing would happen if she let her nerves get the best of her.
“Nu agnerbyos ka ngay ket anya mangyari kenka? Awan maikastam, naidarum ka ngarud. So, you have to be strong, you have to fight,” she said.
Before she was charged in 2011, Maria Linda was the Municipal Health Officer of Tanudan since 1991. However, she was dropped from the roll in 2007 for AWOL or Absence Without Official Leave after she was accused of not going to Tanudan for more than a year.
She recalled she tried to appeal at CSC and brought with her all the charts of patients and other documents that will counter the accusation against her. However, they were not honored since she needed a lawyer to do them for her.
At that time, she had no money to pay for a lawyer.
“Haan ka nagswel-sweldo awan iti kwarta. I have no more money, agawid nak lattan. Anyway, nu ikkaten dak, ikkaten dak latta … Haan lang met nga diay as an MHO iti trabaho iti doctor,” she recalled telling herself.
After her dismissal as MHO, life gets even tougher for her when she was charged by the COA in 2011 with 3 cases. She said that since some liquidation vouchers were lacking, it was presumed she used the fund for her own personal interest.
However, Maria Linda didn’t plead guilty since she knows she is innocent of all the charges.
“Why plead if you are not guilty, prove it,” she said.
Balancing law school, teaching, and hospital duty
Two weeks since classes started in June 2011, Dr. Maria Linda enrolled at the College of Law at KASC, which was then headed by Atty. Eduardo Buliyat and replaced by Ret. RTC Judge Marcelino Wacas with Program Coordinator Atty. Errol Comafay.
She recalled she was 48 at the time and the oldest among the enrollees.
That time she was a resident doctor and on night duty at the Holy Trinity Medical Clinic as well as teaching MedTech subjects at the International School of Asia and the Pacific and Medico-legal subjects for Criminology students at KASC and Saint Louis College of Bulanao.
Since her law classes started at 5:30 PM until 8:30 PM, she was usually late.
“Nu adda emergency, pumanaw kan kuma ngem adda iyeg da, stabilize mo pay before you go to school. Ngem uray maladladawak, mapanak latta,” she shared.
Reason for delayed oathtaking
In 2015, Maria Linda took the bar where she failed. However, this didn’t discourage her from trying again and at her second take in 2016, she passed.
According to Maria Linda, her application for the Bar examination was conditionally approved due to her pending cases. This means that when she passed the exam, she would not be able to take her oath until she is cleared of all the charges.
In July 2014, she won the case at MTC, and two years later, in March 2016, she was acquitted at the RTC. However, when the result of the 2016 November Bar exam was released in 2017, there was no resolution yet from the Civil Service about the administrative case filed against her.
For this reason, Maria Linda was not able to join the oathtaking in 2017.
When the resolution clearing her of the charge filed against her at the Civil Service was released, she was required to submit a testimony of good moral character from different sectors of society.
In February 2020, she received information that she could take her oath in March. However, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in the country, forcing the government to lockdown Northern Luzon.
Two years later, Dr. Maria Linda finally took her oath as a full-fledged lawyer. Despite the delays, she realized there is a proper time for everything and she just needed to be patient.
Family and Friends’ Support
Dr. Maria Linda stressed that she would not have made it that far if it was not because of her family, friends, and fellow doctors who supported her and didn’t hold her back from achieving her goals.
She thanked the private doctors in Kalinga for offering their clinics to her and to Dr. George Taclobao and Mrs. Marciana Taclobao, who accepted her at the Holy Trinity Medical Clinic and for allowing her to enroll at law school.
Also, among the people behind her success are her parents – the late Former Provincial Board Member Pablo Gabit and Emilia Gabit for helping her look after her 5 kids with the late Dr. Joseph Gavino while she was juggling law school and her career.
‘There’s always silver lining in every problem’
From her experiences, Doctor-Lawyer and Licensed Teacher Maria Linda underscored that in every problem, there is always a silver lining.
She related that at some point she was at a loss after being dismissed as MHO, that she needed someone to lift her chin up for her. She said she just let those feelings linger inside her for a while, then she got up and fight.
“Uray nu nadadagsen [a problema]. Adda latta ngay iti silver lining nga kunada, there is always hope. Ta dagiay, haan da inted kenka nu haan mo kaya. Now it’s up to you the way you react to that situation,” she said.
“Nu ibigay mo diay panunut mo, talaga nga bumigay ka,” she stressed.
Meantime, now that she is officially a lawyer, Maria Linda disclosed that she along with her fellow first Bar passers of KSU – Atty. Jovito Aggueban, Atty. Angelique Balisang, Atty. Johny Wayet together with Atty. Priel Balnao is planning to reopen their law firm, adding that she will be a medical doctor at night, then a lawyer and teacher in the morning.
At present, Dr. Maria Linda is the Dean of Allied Sciences at ISAP – Tabuk City, Board of Director at Red Cross – Kalinga, and Board of Regent at Kalinga State University. She is also the former President of the Rotary Club of Tabuk.
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