Sucgang named one of country’s top students

After a rigorous application and selection process, DLSU Law’s Justin Sucgang lands a spot in this year’s Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) list. Sucgang, now reviewing for the Bar Exams this August, is part of the College of Law’s pioneer batch of graduates. He is also the concurrent Officer-in-Charge and Regular member of the Legal Education Board (LEB).

At a young age, Sucgang was given the opportunity to lead a government agency that supervises legal education in the country. Fittingly, he has plans to teach law in the near future and he also wants to introduce innovative ways of teaching the discipline he has excelled in for the past four years.

“After TOSP, I’m back to the real world. I will be taking the Bar Exam this October, so I really need to catch up with my (review) schedule. Nothing has really changed since I am still a law student threatening to become a lawyer, but I am now bringing with me learnings from my TOSP experience,” Sucgang shares.

For the DLSU Law graduate, his priority of spearheading legal educational reform in the country hasn’t changed after receiving the TOSP commendation. Sucgang affirms that his aspirations of realizing his goals just became stronger after his TOSP experience. “TOSP served as fuel and it fanned the flame in me to continue pursuing my advocacies, especially in legal education reform,” adds Sucgang.

Inspired by national hero Jose Rizal, TOSP is an annual search for Filipino students who don’t only excel in their chosen academic fields, but also those who exemplify outstanding moral character and leadership characteristics. The search was founded by businessman Jose Concepcion Jr. back in 1961. Sucgang joins the ranks of Ramon del Rosario, Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan, and former Senator Raul Roco as one of the TOSP alumni.

“More than meeting new people, getting inspired by their lives, being challenged by their ideas, or building one’s social and professional network, it is the knowledge that I am not alone in the struggle to build the nation that I consider the most important opportunity that TOSP brought me. Because of TOSP, I realized that there are many more like-minded and like-spirited Filipinos who genuinely care for this country,” Sucgang ends.

Aside from being the concurrent Officer-in-Charge and Regular member of LEB, Sucgang has consistently placed in the top 10 of COL’s pioneer batch. He is a member of the Jose W. Diokno Honors Society and is a recipient of the Melencio-Herrera scholarship grant. He was also recognized as the top legal intern in the Office of the Solicitor General back in 2012. Sucgang took his undergraduate degree in Psychology at DLSU and he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2009.