SC records highest number of Shari’ah Bar takers this year

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) said that it had recorded 878 exam takers for the Shari’ah Bar exams (SBE) in 2024.

This has been the highest number of takers for the exams on Islamic law since its inception in 1983.

In a press conference on Thursday, Associate Justice Filomena Singh, chair of this year’s Shar’ia Bar exams, revealed that out of 991 applicants, 878 individuals took the SBE this year.

Meanwhile, five applications were discontinued while 28 applications were deactivated for failure to comply with the Bar requirements, according to a separate press release by the SC.

The SBE has been conducted at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD) and the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).

In ADDU, 591 individuals took the exam while 264 individuals took the exam at UPD.

According to Singh, this has been the set up of the SBE as most of the takers came from Mindanao.

“We finally accepted that it is simply wrong to have the testing center only in Metro Manila, when majority of our examinees come from Mindanao,” she said.

The exams were conducted in a “hybrid set up” where 604 took a computerized exam in ADDU while 197 took the exams in the said format in UPD.

Singh also revealed that the SBE will now be taken annually, compared with the previous examinations where the exams are taken every other year.

In 2022, a total of 532 individuals took the exams where 156 individuals passed posting a 29.66% passing rate.

Financial aid

This year’s SBE also included financial aid offered for examinees that are overseas filipino workers (OFW) and indigent examinees.

Four OFWs applied and was granted financial aid which covered their airfare coming from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the accomodation, according to a separate release by the SC.

The inidigent examinees were also given to avail a P2,000 examination fee or an installment scheme for the P12,800 examination fee.

According to Singh, 696 individuals were qualified for the P2,000 application fee while 12 applicant availed the installment scheme.

“These innovations are a testimony to the supreme court's relentless pursuit to ensure that justice is accessible to all filipinos without any distinction so these milestones strengthen the integration of the Shari’ah into our judicial system as the court marches toward a more inclusive judiciary,”Singh said.

Globalized testing

The SC also said that it looks into a possibility on globalizing the SBE for the following years.

According to Singh, the high court is looking at implementing SBE in Philippine embassies abroad for it to be accessible for SBE takers abroad.

“They do not have to fly to Manila, mas malapit, masi nandoon din yung family nila,” Singh said.

(They do not have to fly to Manila, it's closer, their family is also there.)

“If you're undertaking something as big as this, gusto mo natin yung support system mo. So mas maraming nag-take,” she added.

(If you're undertaking something as big as this, you want your support system. So, more people took it.)

Thirty OFWs from the KSA took the SBE this year, according to Singh.

In a separate response, Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao also said that the SC could also implement a “centralized” testing for the SBE in KSA.

Singh also announced that next year’s SBE chair will be Associate Justice Antonio Kho.

The results of the 2024 Shari’ah Bar will be released in July and the oath taking for the Bar passers will be in August.