From beat to court: Inquirer alumni among new lawyers
If someone says it’s raining outside, and another says it’s sunny, the first thing a journalist should do is look out the window.
This basic rule of reporting was useful to Jodee Agoncillo, one of four former Inquirer journalists who passed the 2025 bar examinations.
Agoncillo, who worked at the Inquirer for 12 years from 2010 to 2022, said her journalism experience helped her through law school.
“In the field, I was trained to question everything and practice the discipline of verification, and not to merely accept ‘no’ for an answer,” she told the Inquirer. “Just like in journalism, law school would always require you to know and validate your sources; hence the need to read up more.”
Agoncillo discovered that, just as in journalism, one source is not enough to build up a case.
“You cannot just depend on one source,” Agoncillo said, noting that answers in law school must be backed by codals, jurisprudences, legal luminaries and other legal sources.
A reminder from one of her law school professors, lawyer Rene Gorospe, also took her back to the time when her editors—Volt Contreras, Jun Engracia and Joey Nolasco—would tell her: “Keep it short and simple” or KISS.
Before taking the bar, she worked for the legal services department of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. She now works at the Regional Trial Court in Dasmariñas, Cavite, as a court decongestion officer, or draftsman of resolutions and orders by the judge.
Pathricia Ann Roxas, another former Inquirer reporter, said many journalism skills helped her tremendously as a law student.
“As journalists, we were taught to read thoroughly yet quickly, get our facts straight, communicate concisely, pay attention to details and think on our feet,” said Roxas, who took up law at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
Inquirer’s former Baguio City correspondent Karlston Lapniten, as well as Western Visayas correspondent Joseph Bernard “Joey” Marzan, also passed the bar.
Marzan, speaking to the Inquirer, said the benefits of being a law student and as a journalist go both ways.
“Being a law student has helped me to explain the law better as a reporter,” he recalled.
