Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan on Thursday vowed an “awesome 2026 Bar examination that will reveal the best” in every examinee.
In his message to Bar aspirants, the 2026 Bar chairperson said the exams will be worthy of their sacrifice.
“The decision to pursue a career in law is not one made lightly. It has cost you years of your life and pieces of yourself you may never get back… This is not a test for the weak. Yet you are here, not by chance, but by choice, because you believe in the power of your purpose,” he said.
The exams, set to be conducted in local testing centers (LTCs) across the country, shall follow a compressed schedule of three days on September 6, 9, and 13, 2026.
Despite being administered electronically, the SC is using a secure and reliable assessment platform.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the “digitalized, localized, and proctored” exams were implemented in the 2020-2021 Bar exams held in 2022, marking a historic shift from the traditional pen-and-paper modality.
The exams shall cover 6 core subjects that include Political and Public International Law as well as Commercial and Taxation Laws in Day 1; Civil Law and Land Titles and Deeds as well as Labor Law and Social Legislation in Day 2; and Criminal Law as well as Remedial Law, Legal and Judicial Ethics, with Practical Exercises in Day 3.
Gaerlan said the success in the Bar exams is achieved through merit, stressing that it is “earned through hard work, dedication, unshakeable integrity, and a refusal to settle for anything less than excellence.”
He also underscored a level playing field where one’s competence and character will determine the outcome.
