Andal Ampatuan Sr.’s apo among 2013 Bar passers, says defending lolo a possibility

COTABATO CITY – Twenty-eight-year-old Bai Saudia Shahara Biruar-Ampatuan was still overwhelmed while telling GMA News this week her story over the phone about her passing the 2013 Bar exams on her first try.
 
She is the granddaughter of Andal Ampatuan Sr., the most influential provincial governor during the administration of former President Gloria Arroyo, the same patriarch who was jailed together with his sons and other family members after being tagged as primary suspects in the Maguindanao Massacre.
 
Now that Bai Saudia is set to join the country's newest batch of lawyers, the question is, will she be joining the legal defense team of her family?
 
Bai Saudia said it is a possibility. “But I'm still new and young. I'm not sure yet,” she added.
 
The Ampatuans have been involved in politics for decades. Her father, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, was among the first casualties in the political turmoil in Maguindanao. He was then a mayor of the town of Datu Piang when he was killed after a bomb exploded inside his office in 2003. Bai Saudia was only 17 then.
 
She told GMA News that she dreamed of becoming a lawyer since her childhood days.
 
Bai Saudia finished high school at Albert Einstein High School in Cotabato City. She studied pre-law at San Beda College, then law at San Sebastian College-Recoletos in Manila.
 
Recalling her hardship while studying, Bai Saudia said: “It’s a big struggle on my part. I was fighting a battle when my dad was gone and my mother is far from me. Then suddenly (came that) gloomy chapter in my clan. But those things made me tough. I didn’t lose hope.”
 
She humbly added that she wanted to be a role model to her cousins and relatives in showing how to strive hard to fulfill one's dreams despite all odds, especially when it comes to education. 
 
Her mother, Parang Vice Mayor Bai Soraida Biruar Ampatuan, said she is still in shock at her daughter's passing the grueling exam.
 
“Tears of joy still flourishing. Look, I'm losing voice while we are talking,” the proud mother told GMA News.
 
A grand kanduli or thanksgiving is set to be held by the family to welcome Bai Saudia when she arrives in Cotabato anytime this week. —KG, GMA News