By Jovit D. Caballero

Our final featured employee of 2024, Analyn Cutamora, is a 42-year-old Paralegal from the Legal Division currently residing in Marilao, Bulacan whose journey goes beyond resolving case files. Her story is about mastering countless roles and handling each with grace. Analyn has turned challenges into opportunities, showing that success isn’t just about being in the game — it’s about excelling in every role she takes on.

Analyn is the eldest of two children, born to a seaman and a housewife. Her childhood memories are somewhat vague, as the family frequently rented and moved between various houses in Tondo, Manila, as well as in Caloocan and Navotas. With her father often away at sea, she rarely saw him, and her mother was the one who took care of them. This arrangement fostered her independence from a young age, but it never diminished her love for her father, as she understood the necessity of his work.

Throughout her elementary years, Analyn, despite her shy and timid nature, demonstrated remarkable adaptability and perseverance, consistently ranking in the Top 10 of her class despite transferring schools twice—first from Caloocan Elementary School to Navotas Elementary School after 2nd grade. During this time, she became keenly aware of their financial struggles. When her father returned home, his excessive spending on drinking sessions with friends often left the family with limited resources, leading to frequent misunderstandings between her parents.

The same situation continued during Analyn’s high school years. She attended Jose P. Laurel High School in Tondo, Manila for her first three years. It was during this time that she began to open up, discovering her passion and excelling in extracurricular activities like journalism and the dance group. As she gradually built her confidence and adapted to her surroundings, she had no idea that her family was about to face their greatest hardship yet.

One day, while working on the ship, her father suffered his third stroke while crossing the seas of Mindanao. When they received the call from their Human Resources representative, the family was devastated, feeling helpless as they could do nothing but wait. They turned to prayer and made do with video chats with her father, even though he struggled to speak. After a week, still unable to move, her father finally returned home. To show their love and support, her mother dedicated herself to helping him with his daily needs, while Analyn and her younger sister took turns massaging him to relieve his pain and numbness. By God’s grace and after two long years of therapy, her father gradually recovered, although he stayed home and never returned to work.

Because of this incident, Analyn had to pause her studies in her third year due to the family’s lack of income. She volunteered as a nanny for a Chinese family for a year while her father was still recovering. By the second year of his therapy, she had saved enough money to return to school, transferring to San Rafael National High School in Navotas. There, she focused more on her academics than extracurricular activities, which led to her being named salutatorian at graduation.

During her college years, Analyn enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics program at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa. This was when she embraced her newfound freedom. She fell in love with their neighbor, and they quickly became deeply involved in a relationship. Living in the same neighborhood, their relationship became the talk of the town. As a result, her parents disapproved, which led her to rebel. The young couple decided to leave and start a family of their own.

In 2001, they decided to formalize their relationship with a civil wedding. That same year, she became pregnant with their first child. Motherhood brought many realizations and fueled bigger dreams, not only for herself but for her family as well. Determined to continue her education, she enrolled in the Office Administration program at the same university, feeling behind compared to her friends and colleagues. However, just a year later, her world shattered when her father passed away from a heart attack. She never had the chance to make amends for the disappointment she had caused him.

Fueled by pain and driven by ambition, she completed the 4-year course in just 3 years, even taking summer classes to finish ahead of schedule. During this time, she experienced immense exhaustion, balancing her roles as a wife, mother, and student. She even brought her child to class and exams while managing to handle all the household chores when she got home. All of this extra effort paid off when she graduated and began pursuing her own dreams.

A month after Analyn graduated in 2005, she landed her first job as a legal secretary at Ortega Law Office, where she assisted two litigation lawyers. After two years, she moved on to Puyat, Jacinto, and Santos Law Office, working with five lawyers and handling demanding tasks like monitoring deadlines and drafting pleadings. It was here that she got pregnant with her second child and her desire to pursue law school really took root.

Encouraged by her bosses, she applied for a paralegal position at Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. After nine years in the legal field, Analyn decided it was time to follow her dream of becoming a lawyer. In 2014, she enrolled in the Juris Doctor program at Centro Escolar University, Makati. By this time, she was already a mother of three, and balancing school, work, and family was no easy feat. She attended night classes from 6 to 10 p.m. while juggling all her responsibilities at home and work.

Law school was grueling, and the path was incredibly difficult. Financial, emotional, and physical challenges constantly weighed on her. The hardest part came in her third year when she found out she was pregnant with her youngest daughter. She continued commuting to school while carrying her toddler, and just a week after giving birth, she returned to take her final exams. It felt overwhelming, but her love for the law and her determination kept her going through the exhaustion and self-doubt. The assignments were heavy, and she often felt underprepared. It was a tough test of endurance, and achieving even a 75 in her major subjects felt like a huge win. But through all the struggles, Analyn kept pushing forward.

After five years of sleepless nights and emotional strain, she graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 2019. By then, she was working at MPTSouth, where her supportive team helped her during exams by allowing her to take time off. She’s grateful for the constant encouragement from her family, coworkers, and bosses — they made her journey possible. In 2019 and 2020, Analyn took the bar exams but fell just short of passing. The disappointment was heavy, and she still doesn’t feel ready to retake it. But she knows that passing the bar takes dedication, and if she chooses to try again, she’ll give it her all. In 2022, she was reassigned to NLEX Corporation, where like at MPTSouth, she continues to feel loved and supported by her team in all her endeavors.

As we close the chapter on Analyn’s incredible journey, we’re reminded that success isn’t just about titles or achievements — it’s about the strength to rise through adversity, to embrace every challenge with resilience, and to continue moving forward even when the odds seem impossible. Analyn shows us that the true measure of success lies in the courage to keep going. Truly, she is a beacon of strength and grace beyond compare – a paralegal extraordinaire!

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