Ateneo Law School grad tops 949 Bar exam 2012 passers

(Updated 3:07 p.m.) A graduate of the Ateneo Law School topped the 949 passers of the October 2012 Bar examinations. With 5,343 total number of examinees, this translated to a 17.76 passing rate.  Ignatius Ingles topped the Bar passers with 85.64 percent followed by fellow Ateneo graduate Catherine Beatrice King Kay (84.72 percent) and April Carmela Lacson of the University of the Philippines (84.48 percent). [Click here for complete list of passers.] Ingles was the Ateneo Law School salutatorian while King Kay was valedictorian. The release of the results of the Bar exams — believed to be the most difficult among licensure examinations — is a much awaited annual event not only by law graduates and students, but also by others to see how certain colleges and universities fare. Also in top 10 are Xavier Jesus Romualdo of Ateneo (84.1 percent); Maria Graciela Base of UP and Jose Maria Angel Machuca of Ateneo (83.99 percent); Patrick Henry Salazar of UP (83.71 percent); Ralph Karlo Barcelona of Aquinas University (83.43 percent); Marvyn Llamas of Ateneo (83.29 percent); Carlo Martin Li of Ateneo (83.27 percent); and Francis Paolo Tiopanco of UP (83.25 percent). Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's son, Jose Lorenzo Sereno, who is also from Ateneo, was also among the passers. Sereno inhibited from Tuesday's special en banc session, where the release of the results were approved and the grades were decoded. According to the Supreme Court website, an original 5,686 were admitted to take the Bar but only 5,343 completed the four-Sunday examinations.

Lowest passing rate in 12 years SC Public Informatiom chief Theodore Te said the latest passing rate is the lowest in 12 years. The passing rate is lower than the 31.95 passing rate during the 2011 Bar exams, where 1,913 examinees passed, led by Raoul Angelo Atadero who is also from the Ateneo Law School. This, even as the passing grade was lowered from 75 to 70 percent. "Binabaan na nga namin kasi dapat 361 lang dapat ang papasama. Pero dahil Holy Week may puso din naman kami," SC Associate Justice Martin Villarama, Bar exams chief, jokingly said at a press briefing following the release of the Bar exam results. The list of passers was displayed on the Supreme Court premises and flashed on wide screens in the high court's front yard near the Padre Faura entrance in Manila.

During a special full court session Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court authorized the Office of the Bar Confidant to decode the test papers, a process in which the examination number is matched with the name of the examinee. 'Thankful to God' In an interview aired over GMA News TV's Balitanghali on Wednesday, Ingles said that he first found about the results from the media. "Actually, I don't think it has sunk in yet but I guess I'm happy," he said. Asked about the difficulty of the examination, believed to be the most difficult among licensure examinations, Ingles said it was "very taxing." "Ang daming questions tapos it's like you were answering two exams kasi you have the multiple choice and then you have the essay," he said. He said he will first celebrate by going to Mass. "I would like to give thanks to God and then of course to my wife who was always there and to all those who took the bar I hope you all pass and I'm hoping to see my Ateneo batchmates," he said. 2012 Bar exams

More than 5,000 law school graduates took the Bar exams during the four Saturdays of October last year at the University of Santo Tomas along España Boulevard in Manila.

It was the second time that the exams were held at UST, where security had been tightened since the grenade attack during the Bar exams in 2010 when it was still held at the De La Salle University along Taft Avenue.

Apart from the time and place, other changes implemented for the first time in the 2011 Bar Exams included the use of multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and essay-type questions that were not "Bar-subject specific."

 

The essay is divided into two parts: writing a trial memorandum or a decision based on a documented legal dispute; and preparing a legal opinion for a client concerning a potential legal dispute.

 

The final grade is derived from the multiple-choice exam results (60 percent), and from the essay-type exam results (40 percent). A candidate's results in the essay-type exam will still be checked "irrespective" of the results of his or her multiple-choice exam.

The high court only introduced multiple-choice questions during the 2011 Bar Exams. For the last two years, results for the MCQ weighed more (60 percent) than the results for essay-type questions (40 percent) in computing for the final grade.

For the Bar exams later this year however the high court changed the rules and decided that the exam would consist of 20 percent multiple choice questions (MCQ) and 80 percent essay-type questions.

The 20-percent MCQ portion of the exam would be divided into four or five fact situation from which the MCQs shall be asked. The 80-percent essay portion, on the other hand, will be divided into eight divisions of 10 points each, with a maximum of two facts per division from which questions will be drawn.

Men-women ratio

 

More women than men have made it to the top ten in the last 12 years of the exams: (71) female Bar topnotchers against (59) from their male counterparts from 2000 to 2011.

The Bar exam in September 2008 had the most women topnotchers. Of the 12 topnotchers, 10 of them were women, led by Judy Lardizabal from San Sebastian College with a rating of 85.70 percent.

Former senator Tecla San Andres-Ziga was the first woman to top the Bar in 1930, with a rating of 89.4 percent.

Men, however, have dominated the top spot more often than women since the new millennium began, with seven male law graduates occupying the pinnacle in the last 12 years.

They are:

Meanwhile, the five women who topped the Bar exam in the new millenium are:

Law schools

UP has so far produced the most number - around 50 - of Bar top-notchers since 1913, including former Philippine Presidents Manuel Roxas (1913), Ferdinand Marcos (1939); and former Senator Jovito Salonga (1944); incumbent Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III (1990); and former Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr (1989).

Among the prominent top-notchers from the University of Santo Tomas and the Ateneo Law School are former President Diosdado Macapagal (1936) and current Supreme Court Justice Arturo Brion (1974), respectively. - VVP/KBK, GMA News