MANILA, Philippines - A total of 1,174 law graduates passed last year’s Bar exams that reverted to the predominantly essay-type format, the Supreme Court (SC) announced yesterday.
Associate Justice Arturo Brion, chairman of the 2013 committee on Bar examinations, said the passers constitute 22.18 percent of the 5,292 examinees that took the four-Sunday exams at the University of the Sto. Tomas in October last year.
This percentage of successful examinees is higher than the 17.76 percent who passed the 2012 examinations, where only 949 of a total of 5,343 examinees passed the predominantly multiple choice question-type format.
Brion said they adjusted the passing average from 75 percent to 73 for “various considerations.â€
“We also looked at the level of difficulty and the type of exam we gave. Many of our candidates have problems with MCQ (multiple choice)-type questions but generally they did well in essay questions,†Brion told a news briefing.
“We also looked at past precedents. In the past we made similar adjustments,†he added.
Brion revealed that if the SC did not make the adjustment and stuck to the 75-percent gauge, only 694 or 13.13 percent would have passed.
He said the new lawyers are set to take their oath on April 28 at 2 p.m. at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
Of the passers, graduates of the University of the Philippines-College of Law dominated the list of topnotchers.
Nielson Pangan of UP placed first with an average of 85.80 percent. He became the 47th UP law graduate to top the Bar exams. Three Bar first placers made history and later became president of the country: Manuel Roxas, Diosdado Macapagal and Ferdinand Marcos.
Another UP law graduate, Mark Xavier Oyales, placed second with 85.45 percent, tied with Dianna Louise Wilwayco from the Ateneo Law School.
Three other UP law graduates made it to the Top 10: Eden Catherine Mopia, fourth place, 84.05 percent; Michael Tiu Jr., eighth place, 83,70 percent; and Cyril Arnesto, 10th place, 83.60 percent.
Rudy Ortea, from the University of Batangas, ranked third with 84.20 percent. Tercel Maria Mercado-Gephart, from the University of San Carlos, placed fifth with 83.90 percent.
In sixth place was Manuel Elijah Sarausad of the University of Cebu with 83.80 percent, followed by Katrine Paula Suyat of San Beda College-Manila at seventh place with 83.75 percent. Marjorie Ivory Fulgueras of Ateneo Law School placed ninth with 83.65 percent.
Since the grenade explosion that marred the September 2010 Bar exams in De La Salle University in Manila, the annual licensure exams for lawyers have been conducted every October at the University of Santo Tomas, also in Manila.
Ateneo Law School graduate Ignatius Ingles topped the 2012 Bar exams with a rating of 85.64 percent.
In last year’s Bar exams, the SC reverted back to its previous format, which was predominantly essay-type. The exams consist of 80-percent essay questions and 20-percent MCQs.
In the preceding two years, the SC conducted a predominantly MCQ format.
The high court also lifted its five-strike rule in Bar examinations. The SC started implementing the five-strike rule in 2005, in which examinees who have flunked five times are disqualified from further taking the Bar exams.
For this year’s Bar exams, the SC committee will be chaired by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta.