Online oathtaking for 2019 bar passers set

The Supreme Court has allowed the oathtaking of the country’s new lawyers through online on June 25 due to the prevailing public health emergency arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

During its en banc session on Tuesday, the SC adopted a resolution mandating the oath-taking to be conducted via online video conference and linked to a government television network for broadcast.

“The Court noted that the current health crisis and COVID-19 pandemic made it not possible to hold the oath-taking ceremony the traditional way, as it had to take into consideration the existing government policies on public health, particularly on mass gatherings,” the SC PIO said, in a statement.

The virtual oath-taking will be exclusive for the 2019 Bar passers.

The Office of the Bar Confidant, under the guidance of Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, who chaired the 2019 Bar Examination committee, has been authorized to organize and carry out the oath-taking as contemplated in the resolution, the SC PIO said.

A total of 2,103 candidates passed the 2019 Bar exams, representing 27.36% of the 7,685 examinees who completed the licensure test for lawyers last November.

Mae Diane Azores, a certified public accountant, was the topnotcher with a rating of 91.0490%. She studied law at the University of Santo Tomas – Legazpi.