Bar exams off to peaceful start

MANILA, Philippines - This year’s Bar exams at the University of Santo Tomas started yesterday in an orderly manner after the Manila city government banned the drinking of beer and liquor in establishments around UST.

The Supreme Court and concerned agencies had increased security measures since last year to prevent a repeat of the grenade attack that marred the conclusion of the 2010 exams and wounded some 50 persons.

A total of 5,686 law graduates trooped to the UST campus where some 50 police officers were deployed. Examinees and their supporters gathered outside the venue an hour before the gates opened at 5 a.m.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has issued an executive order prohibiting the sale and distribution of beer and liquor along the UST perimeter for the four Sundays of October.

“No store, restaurant, eatery, cafe or any eating places or ambulant vendors shall be allowed to sell, peddle, or offer for drink to any person intoxicating beverages, such as beer, liquors, wine and the like between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. within 200 meters from the perimeter walls of UST,” read the mayor’s EO 32.

The order also provides that violators shall be fined as much as P200, imprisoned for as long as six months or both.

It is the second year of the multiple-choice type of Bar exams in the SC’s history. SC Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., chair of this year’s Bar exams committee, said 5,710 graduates had earlier applied to take the exams but five had been denied while 19 withdrawn their applications.

The SC had imposed some changes from the conduct of last year’s MCQ exams.

The Bar exams reverted back to the original schedule where there will be two exams of the eight Bar examination subjects per Sunday, unlike last year wherein the coverage of the Bar examinations was by topics and sub-topics rather than by simply stating the covered subject.

The first day of exams covered political law in the morning and labor and social legislation in the afternoon.

Next Sunday, the applicants will be tested in civil law in the morning and taxation in the afternoon. They will take the exams on mercantile law and criminal law on Oct. 21 and remedial law and legal ethics and practical exercises on Oct. 28.

Villarama said that each exam is composed of a multiple choice question portion and an essay portion. The MCQ portion would have a weight of 60 percent, while the essay exam part will have a weight of 40 percent. There will also be a performance test (trial memorandum) on Oct. 28.

Also unlike last year, examinees who fail to pass in the MCQ portion during checking will be automatically disqualified. This means their essays would no longer be considered.

The first Bar exams were held in 1901, with 13 examinees.