Lawyer-Cop in Region 12 Vows to Give Pro Bono Service to Colleagues

A five-month pregnant mother and a police officer is now a lawyer.

Now eligible to be promoted six ranks higher, Police Officer 3 (PO3) Irish Amor Villa-Bedua was among the 3,747 new lawyers who made it after the grueling bar examination in November last year.

With opportunities opened wide for her, including high paying jobs, Villa-Bedua today said she would stay with the police force and help her colleagues.

Born and raised in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat, Villa-Bedua said she would provide free legal services to her colleagues at the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Becoming a lawyer was Bedua’s childhood dream.

She graduated with an AB Political Science degree at the Notre Dame of Marbel University and later proceeded to take law at the Mindanao State University.

“Her law studies had to be set aside as she fell in love with a fellow police officer, PO3 Nepthalie Bedua,” Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr, Police Regional Office 12 spokesperson, said. The couple was blessed with a child named Ashley Bridget Sophie.

“She stopped law school. However, the dream continues to live within her,” Galgo told the Philippine News Agency in a phone interview.

Villa-Bedua joined the police force in 2007 and was assigned at the President Quirino municipal police office in Sultan Kudarat.

It was here that she had the opportunity to pursue her law studies at the state university while working as police investigator.

Villa-Bedua thanked then PRO-12 regional director Chief Supt. Felicisimu Khu for assigning her to the Pres. Quirino polcie station in 2011, which gave her the chance to take up law.

“Family support, self-motivation and good foundation coupled with determination were my main ingredients that made me a lawyer,” she said.

Now called by colleagues in the police force as “Attorney PO3,” Villa-Bedua revealed that she reviewed twice before taking the examination in November last year.

“This is to ensure that I am confident enough and mentally and emotionally prepared for the big day,” she recalled.

During her six months of review at San Beda Manila, Villa-Bedua said she made great sacrifices, including sleeping only three hours a day to study and read books.

Galgo said that Villa-Bedua is eligible for promotion to the rank of senior inspector, six ranks higher than her current rank.
(EOF/PNA)