SC suspends law school admission test

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has reportedly issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Legal Education Board (LEB) from requiring those entering the law school to pass the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhiLSAT).

The High Court’s TRO prevented the LEB from implementing its memorandum order that would prevent law schools from accepting students who failed the PhiLSAT.

Before the SC are two petitions filed by retired Makati Regional Trial Court judge Oscar Pimentel and a group of law students questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act 7662, the the Legal Education Reform Act, which became the basis for the issuance of LEB Memorandum Order No. 7 for the conduct of PhiLSAT.

The memorandum dated Dec. 29, 2016 provided for the mechanisms of the one-day aptitude test to measure the academic potentials of an examinee who wants to pursue law.

The first PhiLSAT examination was held in April last year at seven locations.

According to the memorandum, while school year 2017-2018 would be the pilot year for PhiLSAT, law schools would still be allowed to enroll students who took the exams but did not meet the passing score of 55 percent.