Supreme Court postpones 2020 Bar exams to next year

The Supreme Court has decided to postpone the 2020 Bar examinations to next year in view of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis. 

In a Bar bulletin issued Wednesday, 2020 Bar chair Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said the move was in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the "social and economic disruption" caused by the pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine. 

"This is to give the Court ample time to determine the necessary adjustments and to make adequate preparations for the safe and orderly conduct of the examinations," the justice said. 

The new schedule will be announced in June. "It shall definitely be held sometime in 2021," Leonen said. 

The SC also resolved to hold the next Bar examinations in Manila and in Cebu City, "acting on the Bar Chairperson’s proposal for regionalization." 

Bar examinations are usually held during the four Sundays of November at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. 

The new Bar bulletin was issued on the day the SC announced the results of the 2019 Bar exams. A total of 2,103 candidates passed, representing 27.36% of the 7,685 examinees who completed the tests. 

Mae Diane Azores of the University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi, formerly Aquinas University, was the topnotcher with a rating of 91.0490%.

The release of results this year was done online, without the usual crowd-drawing display of the passers' names at the SC compound in Manila, due to social distancing and home quarantine measures brought about by COVID-19. —KG, GMA News