Supreme Court: 1,451 of 5,903 pass 2009 Bar examinations

Source: GMANEWS
Only 1,451 or 24.5 percent of the total 5,903 Bar examinees in 2009 passed the examinations. The complete list of names of the passers will be released at 6 p.m., the Supreme Court said early Friday afternoon.

In an article on the high court's website, Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, chair of the 2009 Committee on Bar Examinations, said that the passing rate was lowered from 75 percent to 71 percent, while the disqualification grade in Taxation has been lowered from 49 percent to 45 percent.

The high court conducts the Bar exams annually in accordance with Section 5(5), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, which gives the SC the power to “promulgate rules concerning … the admission to the practice of law."

The 2009 Bar examinations were administered through Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Atty. Ma. Cristina B. Layusa.

Traditionally, the Bar exams are held in four consecutive Sundays of September, but the high court had to reset the last exam Sunday in 2009 to October 4 due to widespread flooding caused by tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana)

YEAR	TOTAL NO. OF EXAMINEES	TOTAL NO. OF PASSERS	PERCENTAGE
2009	5,903	1,451	24.5
2008	6,364	1,310	20.58%
2007	5,626	1,289	22.91%
2006	6,187	1,893	30.60%
2005	5,607	1,526	27.22%
2004	5,249	1,659	31.61%
2003	5,349	1,108	20.71%
2002	4,659	917	19.68%
2001	3,849	1,266	32.89%
2000	4,698	979	20.84%

Last year’s examinations also marked the first time the two-examiners-per-subject policy was implemented. Each of the eight Bar exam subjects was divided into two parts, with a designated examiner assigned to a specific scope. —with a report by Andreo Calonzo/LBG,GMANews.TV