UP Visayas law student tops FLP writing contest

ILOILO CITY — Roberto III Bedonia, a student at the University of the Philippines College of Law’s UP Visayas Extension Program, won first place in the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity Dissertation Writing Contest for academic year 2025-2026.

Bedonia won for his paper, “A Fisherman’s Liberty and Prosperity: Establishing the Constitutional and Statutory Justifications for a Secure Marine Tenure for our Subsistence Fishermen while Balancing the Needs of Commercial Fishing.”

His faculty adviser was Assistant Professor Oliver Xavier Reyes, whom FLP identifies as Atty. Oliver Reyes in its official list of winners.

Bedonia and Reyes received their awards as winning contestant and faculty mentor, respectively, during FLP’s ceremony for its academic award recipients at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City on Sept. 16, 2026.

The Sept. 16 awarding ceremony gathered winners and finalists from law schools across the country.

FLP awards PHP 300,000 to the first-place winner of the dissertation writing contest, while the second-place winner receives PHP 200,000 and three third-place winners receive PHP 100,000 each.

The contest is open to third- and fourth-year law students and students taking a Master of Laws, MBA or Master of Science in entrepreneurship, sustainability, management, economics, and business law.

Each entry must be a thesis, dissertation or research paper that advances FLP’s philosophy of protecting liberty and nurturing prosperity under the rule of law.

The competition is conducted by FLP in partnership with the Ayala Group and in cooperation with the Philippine Association of Law Schools.

Entries are evaluated based on factors that include the significance and timeliness of the subject, depth of research and analysis, quality of legal reasoning, and clarity of writing.

The contest builds on the judicial philosophy associated with retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, founder and chairman of FLP, which seeks to safeguard liberty and nurture prosperity under the rule of law.

Bedonia earned his Bachelor of Science in Political Science degree from UP Visayas in 2018. (Carlson Alelis/IPO, with source material from FLP)