Source: Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The results of the 2009 bar examination will be released on Friday, Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez announced.
In a special en banc session of the high tribunal Friday morning, Associate Justice Eduardo Nachura, chairman of the 2009 Committee on Bar Examination, will present the exam results and the magistrates will determine the passing percentage.
A total of 5,903 law graduates from 109 schools nationwide took the bar exams held on September 6, 13, 20 and October 4 at the Dela Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila, figures from the Office of the Bar Confidant showed.
Bar exams are traditionally held in four consecutive Sundays, but last year the high court rescheduled the last test to a later date due to the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy.
Midas Marquez said results will be displayed on LCD screen set up at the Supreme Court front yard near its Padre Faura entrance. A complete list of bar passers can also be viewed on INQUIRER.net.
The 2009 bar exam marked the first time that not one but two were designated as examiners in each of the eight bar subjects. This made the examination to be divided into two parts.
In the high court’s deliberation, the justices will also evaluate if this new test approach will be continued, Midas said.
“During the session, the justices will determine if we will continue with the two examiner per subject or revert to the old practice [of one examiner per subject],” Marquez said.
Based on the Rules of Court, a bar examinee “may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject.”
In determining the average, subjects in the examinations are given the following relative weights: Political and International Law, 15 percent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 percent; Civil Law, 15 percent; Taxation, 10 percent; Mercantile Law, 15 percent; Criminal Law, 10 percent; Remedial Law, 20 percent; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5 percent.
Bar results are closely linked with Philippine politics since the time of the first bar examinations in 1901 under American rule when 13 examinees took the test.
Former president Manuel Roxas made history in 1913 when he got an average of 92 percent in the exams. A year later, he was outdone by Manuel Goyena, who scored 93 percent.
In 1930, Tecla San Andres-Ziga who later became senator, was the first woman to top the bar, with a score of 89.4 percent, a feat which remained unrepeated until 1937 when Cecilia Munoz-Palma, who later became a high court magistrate, placed first scoring 92.6 percent.
A year before that (1936), Diosdado Macapagal, who later on became President, topped the bar with a mark of 89.85 percent.
In 1939, Ferdinand Marcos got the highest score of 92.35 percent. Marcos reviewed for the exams while facing indictments for the murder of his father’s political enemy. He would later challenge the reelection bid of Macapagal on an anti-corruption platform.
In 1944, former Senate president Jovito R. Salonga and former senator Jose W. Diokno both topped the bar with a score of 95.3 percent.
The all-time high grade however was obtained by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Florenz Regalado, who scored 96.7 percent in the 1954 bar exam.
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