Over 5,800 graduates to take 2007 Bar exams

All roads lead to Taft Avenue in Manila City for 5,804 law graduates taking this year's Bar Examinations at the De La Salle University (DLSU) starting this Sunday. In a statement, the Supreme Court said the examinees come from over 100 schools around the country and will be literally put to the test on the first four Sundays of September. This year will have fewer examinees compared to last year's highest-ever 6,345 graduates who took the Bar. The passing rate then was 30.6 percent. A total of 158 graduates failed to finish the exam. Justice Adolfo Azcuna will chair the high tribunal's Committee on the 2007 Bar Examinations. The Office of the Bar Confidant, headed by Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Ma. Cristina Layusa, will administer the Exams. The Supreme Court warned Bar examinees of potential problems traveling to the DLSU campus on September 2. "The Bar Confidant urged the examinees to come early at the first Sunday since the annual Alay Lakad along Roxas Boulevard might affect the traffic situation," the SC statement read. It added that, "DLSU gates will be open as early as 5 a.m during the Bar exam dates ... Moreover, a portion of Taft Avenue, from Quirino Avenue to Pablo Ocampo Street (formerly Vito Cruz), will be temporarily closed to vehicular traffic from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. on those dates." Layusa said the successful conduct of this year's Bar would be pursued through the concerted efforts of 1,296 personnel. These people include superintendents, supervisors, headwatchers, watchers, Bar assistants, special assistants as well as medical and dental personnel. Traffic enforcers from the Manila Police District (MPD) and the Metro Manila Development Authority will also be deployed. Mobile patrol and bomb disposal units will help secure the area. Earlier in the day, radio station dzBB quoted the Manila police as saying that many parents, friends, as well as fraternity and sorority members are expected to arrive with the examinees. In past years, the police noted that even drum-and-bugle groups were brought in to pump up the spirits of the examinees. The first Bar exams were held in 1901, with only 13 examinees. Last year, Noel Neil Malimban of the University of the Cordilleras topped the Bar with an average score of 87.60 percent. Article 8, Section 13 of the Constitution grants the Supreme Court the authority to promulgate rules on the entry of new law practitioners. The Rules of Court provide that "a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject." Subjects in the examinations are given the following relative weights: Political and International Law, 15 percent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 percent; Civil Law, 15 percent; Taxation, 10 percent; Mercantile Law, 15 percent; Criminal Law, 10 percent; Remedial Law, 20 percent; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, five percent, for a total of 100 percent. Azcuna had served as Bar examiner in Political Law in the 1991 Bar exams. He is a cum laude law graduate of Ateneo de Manila in 1962. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the same institution and eventually taught international law there for 19 years. - GMANews.TV