Among the 3,962 individuals who passed the 2024 Bar Examinations in the Philippines, one name has stood out not just for his achievement but for the inspiring and heart-wrenching story behind it: Jules Millanar, a Bachelor of Laws graduate from Mindanao State University – General Santos. His journey, marked by unimaginable loss and resilience, has touched thousands after he shared his story on Facebook. The post has been shared over 20,000 times as of this writing, and the reactions continue to pour in.
In his heartfelt post, Millanar detailed the tragic events that shaped his life and fueled his determination. “For those who might not know, I was orphaned at the early age of 15. We lost our mother in 2011, and just over a year later, my father tragically joined her. Our eldest sister was only 17, barely an adult herself, while our youngest was just 12,” he recounted.
Millanar shared the pain of losing his mother to colon cancer and his father to a heart attack shortly after. “My mom died of colon cancer. She was selfless to the end; her only ‘bisyo’ was her family… My father suffered a heart attack in his bed, gripping his rosary so tightly that it shattered into pieces. He was pleading for his life, but even prayers that fierce went unanswered,” he wrote.
Left to fend for themselves, Jules and his siblings had to grow up fast. Their eldest sister, Leika Millanar, became the backbone of the family. “At 17 years old, she became everything we had lost—our mother and father rolled into one. She gave up so much of her youth, her dreams, and her freedom so that my younger sister and I could have a fighting chance,” Millanar shared, calling her “forged from the hardest steel.”
Despite the odds stacked against him, Millanar persevered, driven by the memory of his parents and the sacrifices of his sister. When he saw his name among the list of bar passers, it was a cathartic moment. “I broke—not from joy, but from pain, anger, suffering, and years of bottled-up grief… For the first time in years, I let it all out: the grief of losing them, the rage and anger at how unfair life had been, and the exhaustion of enduring so much just to survive,” he confessed.
Millanar’s story is not just one of personal triumph but also of collective resilience. He credited the people who supported him along the way, including family friends who took them under their wing when they had no one else.
“This victory isn’t just mine—it’s theirs, it’s my siblings’, and it belongs to the people who believed in us and chose to stand by our side,” he emphasized.
Ending his post on a hopeful note, Millanar wrote: “We are no longer just a tragic story. We are a story of survival, of love, and of defying the odds… Mang, Pang, it was tough, we bled, but your kids are alright.”
