Bar Exam Results...

... expected any day now.

MANILA, Philippines -- The more than 5,000 aspiring new lawyers who took the bar exams last year will know their fate Friday or Saturday.

The Supreme Court en banc was to meet on Friday to decide whether to release the results in the afternoon or early evening of Friday, or on Saturday.

The high court’s spokesperson, Jose Midas Marquez, said the day of the release was not definite because the justices might decide to have certain things checked or rechecked, and this might not be finished on Friday.

The list of passers would be displayed on LCD projectors placed on the front yard of the Supreme Court building on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila.

The names may also be found on the high court’s website.

A total of 5,626 law graduates took last year’s bar exams, which as usual were held at the De La Salle University on Taft Avenue in Manila in the four Sundays of September. The aspiring lawyers come from 109 schools nationwide, according to Cristina Layusa, head of the Office of the Bar Confidant.

The number of examinees last year is smaller than the 6,345 who took the tests in 2006.

Under the Rules of Court, a bar examinee is deemed to have passed if he obtains a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject.

The subjects and their corresponding weights are as follows: Remedial Law, 20 percent; Political and International Law, 15 percent; Mercantile Law, 15 percent; Civil Law, 15 percent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 percent; Taxation, 10 percent; Criminal Law, 10 percent; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5 percent.

Since 2000, the highest percentage of bar passers was seen in 2001, where the passing rate was 32.89 percent. This corresponded to 1,266 passers out of 3,849 examinees.

But the biggest number of actual passers since 2000 was recorded in 2006, when 1,893 out of 6,187 passed, or 30.60 percent of the total. The 2006 topnotcher was Noel Malimban from the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City.

The lowest percentage of passers since 2000 was recorded in 2002, when only 19.68 percent passed.

The chair of the 2007 Committee on Bar Examinations is Justice Adolf Azcuna.

By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer