A People's History in the Young Life of Romina Bernardo

Supreme Court lawyer Romina Bernardo grew up in a family of two different faiths, and lived in two countries, watched noontime variety shows to learn Filipino.

- Sara Siguion-Reyna

Romina Bernardo walked into the vast lobby of The peninsula Manila and sat quietly waiting for her shoot to start. Her close-cropped hair, elfin features, and a certain kind of deportment would, at first glance, suggest she works in the arts, perhaps in design. But Mini, as she is known, is a lawyer who works for the Associate Justice of the supreme Court Marvic Leonen. Her days are spent researching and writing opinions to assist in making legal determinations.

Clearly more at home within the hallowed halls of the Philippine supreme court, the whole experience of a photoshoot is foreign to her. “It’s so crazy how this all suddenly happened,” she says, observing the buzz of activity taking place at the start of the pictorial. Around her, tables are set up, makeup and hair tools are unpacked, and stylist Kim Barik lays out clothing options. Perhaps the hustle and bustle isn’t all that different from what takes place in the chambers of the highest court of the land.

A SENSE OF EASE THAT CAN’T BE REPLICATED

Born in the united states to Romeo and Amina Rasul Bernardo, mini had a relatively normal upbringing, growing up a respectful child of expat parents. At the age of seven, she moved to the Philippines with her family and stayed until she was 14, before returning to the us, where she graduated from college at the age of 21.

“When I was seven, it was kind of difficult, because I didn’t speak much Tagalog. A lot of the words I thought were Tagalog turned out to be tausug,” she says, describing the conundrum of children whose parents are from different parts of the country. “So I only knew words like Ano, Bakit (because it sounded like “bucket”) and kalbo (thanks to the children’s rhyme).”