MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court is working with the national government’s task force against coronavirus to include Bar applicants in the vaccination program.
In its Bar Bulletin released on Wednesday, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, also 2020/21 Bar chairperson, urged those who are taking the Bar this November to avail of their local government units' free vaccination program.
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But Leonen said the SC is also working with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to include those who are currently not part of the priority vaccination categories.
“We have had positive discussions with the Vaccine Czar regarding this request,” he said.
“The Bar Chairperson, with the support of the Court En Banc, aims to have all the approved Bar applicants fully vaccinated before November,” Leonen added.
LGUs are currently inoculating up to the A5 categories, depending on the supply of doses. Covered in the priority categories are senior citizens (A2), person with comorbidities (A3), workers in essential sectors (A4) and indigent population (A5).
Procurement of test kits
Leonen also said the SC is currently working on procuring COVID-19 testing kits for Bar examinees.
The SC has yet to announce whether they will require Bar examinees to take COVID-19 tests before every exam day. The Bar will take place in every Sunday of November.
More COVID-19 protocols will be made public in early October, Leonen said as he assured that the SC “have asp been preparing for various scenarios and actively monitoring developments from several credible sources.”
“Keep safe and well, study with passion, help others, and do not spread false information. Advise those who do so or burden others by broadcasting their needless anxiety that they are doing everyone a disservice,” he added.
The Bar exams have historically been held in one venue — at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in previous years — on the four Sundays of November, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the SC to postpone its conduct in 2020.
In July, the SC launched its online platform for applicants in the next Bar exams, the first digital and localized licensure test for Philippine lawyers.
As of July 9, the SC inked agreements with 16 local testing centers across the country, with negotiations underway for a few other large schools to accommodate more Bar examinees.