32 percent of examinees pass 2011 Bar, up from 20 percent in 2010 — SC's Marquez

A total of 1,913 law graduates or 31.95 percent of the 5,990 examinees passed the 2011 Bar examinations — the second highest in the millennium.   Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez announced this at a press briefing Tuesday, a day before the list of passers is expected to be released.   “A total of 1,913 or 31.95 percent passed the 2011 Bar exams,” Marquez said. "Second highest rate for this millennium.”   Marquez said the highest was in 2001 where 32.89 percent passed the Bar exams, believed to be the most difficult among licensure examinations. He did not say how many took the exams that year.   “What we are seeing now is a jump from 20.26 percent in 2010 to 31.95 percent in 2011. Large part explained in reforms undertaken in the 2011,” Marquez said.   Some 6,200 law graduates took the Bar during the four Sundays of November last year at the University of Santo Tomas campus in Manila.   Marquez said not all of the 6,200 were able to finish the exams.   Marquez, who is also the spokesman of the Supreme Court, said the results will be announced at 2 p.m. Wednesday by Justice Roberto A. Abad, chairman of the 2011 Bar Examinations Committee.   "Like we used to have before, we will have widescreens with the name of those who successfully made the exams. So there is not going to be a wait anymore, unlike what we used to have,” he said.   In a full court session Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court authorized the Office of the Bar Confidant to decode the test papers.    Decoding is the process of matching the examination number with the name of the examinee. - KBK, GMA News