THE San Beda College Alabang (SBCA) in Muntinlupa City will be the national headquarters of the Supreme Court (SC) for the 2023 online and regionalized Bar examinations set on Sept. 17, 20, and 24.
This came after SBCA and the SC signed an agreement on the matter, represented by Rector-President Fr. Gerardo Ma. De Villa and en banc clerk of court Marife Lomibao Cuevas.
Witnesses in the contract signing were SC Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, chairperson of the 2023 Bar examinations committee, and SBCA College of Law Dean Ulpiano Sarmiento III.
There will be 14 local testing centers (LTCs) for the 2023 Bar exams. In the National Capital Region, the LTCs will be at the San Beda University, Manila; University of Santo Tomas, Manila; SBCA; University of the Philippines, Quezon City; Manila Adventist College, Pasay City; and University of the Philippines, Bonifacio Global City.
In Luzon, the LTCs will be at the Saint Louis University in Baguio City; Cagayan State University, Tuguegarao City; and University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City.
In the Visayas, University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu City, University of San Carlos also in Cebu City, and Dr. V. Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation in Tacloban City will be the LTCs.
There will be two LTCs in Mindanao —one at the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City and the other at the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City.
Instead of eight subjects, the 2023 Bar exams will only have six core subjects.
“Commercials Law and Taxation Law have been conjoined to the close affinity between these two fields in legal practice, while Remedial Law and Legal and Judicial Ethics with Practical Exercises were fused together as these subjects complement each other in actual practice,” Justice Hernando earlier said.
Thus, the subjects for examinations on Sept. 17, 2023 will be Political and Public International Law in the morning, and Commercial and Taxation Laws in the afternoon, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
On Sept. 20, 2023, the subjects covered are Civil Law in the morning and Labor Law and Social Legislation in the afternoon. On Sept. 24, 2023, Criminal Law and Remedial Law will be in the morning and Legal and Judicial Ethics with Practical Exercises in the afternoon.
Justice Hernando said the early release of the Bar exams results would be complementary to an early conduct of the examinations.
“We will therefore have aspirants to the profession earning their J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree, taking the Bar exams, taking the oath and signing the roll of attorneys all in the same year,” he said.
Also present during the contract signing were Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and Justices Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Mario V. Lopez, Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez; and Antonio T. Kho, Jr., Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva, Assistant Court Administator Lilian C. Barribal-Co, Public Information Office Chief Brian Keith F. Hosaka, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Administrative Officer Maria Carina M. Cunanan, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Attorney Maria Victoria Gleoresty Sp. Guerra, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Technology Officer Jed Sherwin G. Uy, Office of the Bar Confidant Officer-in-Charge Atty. Amor P. Entila, and SC Chief Judicial Staff Officer, Budget Division, Fiscal Management, Budget Office Atty. Marilyn I. De Joya, Bar exams consultants Dr. Norman Dennis E. Marquez and MGen. Joel Napoleon Coronel (Ret.).
With Fr. De Villa and Dean Sarmiento were SBCA Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Andres Ignacio C. San Mateo, Jr., Atty. Carlo D. Busmente, Atty. Maria Eliza Camille Yamamoto, Atty. Roben B. Cadugo, Jr., Fr. Anthony Ma. B. Mendoza, OSB, and Fr. Dom Clement Ma. H. Roque, OSB.