This year’s Bar examination at the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila came to an end on Sunday without a hitch.
SC spokesman Theodore Te said that a total of 6, 831 law graduates were admitted to take this year’s exam dubbed as the most difficult and grueling of licensure exams in the country.
Of this number, 3, 317 are first-time examinees while 3, 514 are retakers.
Te, however, could not say how many examinees completed the four Sundays’ exams.
“We will have to wait for the statistics of the Office of the Bar Confidant,’ Te said.
In the 2015 Bar exams, a total of 1,731 passed, representing 26.21 percent of the total of 6,605 candidates who completed the exams.
The 2016 Bar exams have been concluded amid allegation of leakages that went viral in social media, thus prompting 2016 Bar Committee chairman, Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. to issue a statement denying the rumors.
Velasco said he immediately initiated an investigation after the allegations surfaced about leakage in the examinations in Commercial and Criminal Law and found no evidence of irregularity.
“The findings show that there is no truth to any of these unsubstantiated social media rumors. The Office of the Bar chairperson has investigated the matter and has come to the conclusion that the questions remained confidential before the scheduled exams,’ Velasco said.
In the 2003 Bar exams, the SC ordered 5,000 Bar examinees to retake a test on mercantile law after it was discovered that the exam had been leaked.
Then bar exams committee chairman, Justice Jose Vitug said the mercantile law examination was nullified to “preserve the integrity and protect the sanctity” of the Bar results.
In 1979, a reexamination was ordered after a similar exam leakage involving two subjects—labor and social legislation and taxation—was discovered.
Just like in the previous three Sundays of the exams, the Manila Police Department maintained a tight security watch around the UST campus I along España in Manila.
Apart from the policemen, rescue units, paramedics and ambulances were also on hand to ensure the safety of the examinees and prevent a repeat of the 2010 bar exam bombing at De La Salle University that injured 47 people.
A liquor ban is imposed within the 100-meter radius of UST and a “no parking” policy is implemented along España and Dapitan streets during the conduct of the exams.
The Manila District Traffic Enforcement Unit also enforced road closures and traffic rerouting in the vicinity of the venue of the exams.