At 67, CASE LAW writer Sancho B. Almeda is a well-accomplished lawyer. A graduate of UP College of Law, he had only one-a-half of self-review before taking the bar in 1968. After passing the Bar the following year, former Senator Dominador Aytona took him in his Senate office.
In 1971, he began his law practice, during which he wrote The Making of a Labor Union and The Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 Annotated, both published by the National Book Store. His practice was interrupted when former EPZA Administrator (now Congressman) Gerry Espina got him as Director of EPZA’s legal service in 1981. During this year, he founded and edited, although unofficially, The Lawyers’ Times. When Gerry Espina resigned, he too left, although he did not have to as his appointment was permanent, where he wrote Case Law based on recent Supreme Court decisions.
His law practice was again interrupted when former Vice Chief of Staff General Salvador M. Mison asked him to be his Special Assistant for Operations in the Bureau of Customs (BOC). Although he had no prior experience in customs matters, upon instruction of General Mison, he worked on a new procedure in the release of shipments, which came to be known as Non-stop Procedure in the Release of Shipments (NPRS) that reduced the signatures on a customs entry from 44 to just 7, thereby reducing red tape. Eventually, NPRS became the father of all one-stop procedures in government agencies. After 6 months, he came up with the Express Procedure in the Release of Shipments, which guaranteed the release of shipments in less than a day.
Again, when General Mison left BOC in 1991, he too packed his things although he had a permanent appointment. He was back to law practice, but which was cut short again in 1996 when former SC Justice and Labor Secretary Leonardo A. Quisumbing invited him to join him in DOLE, appointing him Director of the Legal Service. At this time, he finished and published his first novel, The Filipino Dream, which was launched in May 1998 at the Century Park Hotel.
Resuming his law practice once again, he lamented the lack of a series of articles on CASE LAW that when his son, the owner of this website, asked him if he has the time to write Case Law for him.
