The results of the May 2026 Certified Public Accountants Licensure Examination (CPALE) were released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) on Tuesday, June 2, announcing a total of 3,004 passers out of the 9,745 who took the exam. The national passing rate is 30.83%.
UP Diliman is the top-performing institution with an almost-perfect 53-of-54 showing, good for a 98.15% passing rate, bannered by Zamboangueño topnotcher James Al Serondo. Serondo, a native of Liloy, Zamboanga del Norte, recorded an exam rating of 91.17.
WHO ARE THE TOPNOTCHERS OF THE MAY 2026 CPALE?
Considering ties, a total of 16 topnotchers are in the Top 10 list– three are tied at No. 6, two at No. 8, three at No. 9, and two at No. 10.
Eleven of the sixteen topnotchers are products of schools based in the regions, while five are based in NCR.
The top-performing examinee representing a school from the region is Miko Andre Villenas, an alumnus of Southern Luzon State University Lucban (SLPC), who placed second overall with a 91.00 exam rating.
The full list of examinees who garnered the ten highest places:
1 - JAMES AL ALCAYDE SERONDO - University of the Philippines Diliman - 91.17%
2 - MIKO ANDRE REYES VILLENAS - Southern Luzon State University-Lucban (SLPC) - 91.00%
3 - JONATHAN EURICH LO GO - De La Salle University-Manila - 90.83%
4 - BLAS MIGUEL VILLACAMPA ESCARRO - University of San Jose-Recoletos - 90.67%
5 - ACE BENHUR MACALIPAY LIGO - Mindanao State University-General Santos City - 90.17%
6 - ANGLE JEAN GEONZON BAGACAY - Mindanao State University-General Santos City - 90.00%
6 - MARL ANGELO MIRADOR CARACAS - President Ramon Magsaysay State University-Iba - 90.00%
6 - HEART CORDERO PECSON - FEU Diliman (Formerly FEU-FERN College QC) - 90.00%
7 - CARL ACE ALBIOS DELA CERNA - Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology - 89.83%
8 - STEVEN BRIELLE SALPID DAVID - Xavier University - 89.67%
8 - ERNEST JOHN ALBURQUE MANALO - FEU Diliman (Formerly FEU-FERN College QC) - 89.67%
9 - ANDREA SANTOS MENESES - Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Main, Sta. Mesa - 89.50%
9 - ROVERSON DAYUNOT MORTEGA - Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Lopez - 89.50%
9 - JAMELA MEHETABEL COLARINA SAN JUAN - Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Sto. Tomas - 89.50%
10 - IVY RAMOS ALDAVE - De La Salle University-Manila - 89.33%
10 - JOAN ALLIAH MOCOY CARILIMDILIMAN - University of San Jose-Recoletos - 89.33%
HOW DOES THE 30.83% NAT’L PASSING RATE COMPARE?
Compared to the two licensure examinations for CPAs in 2025, the May 2026 national passing rate of 30.83 is lower than at least 2.28%.
In the October 2025 exams, 3,460 examinees out of 10,171 takers passed (34.02%), while in the May 2025 edition, 3,156 out of 9,533 succeeded (33.11%).
In the past 19 CPALE examinations over the last 10 years, this is the 11th time that the CPALE passing rate has reached at least 30%.
The lowest during that span was the 14.32% registered in October 2019 when only 2,075 passed out of a total of 14,492 takers. The highest, meanwhile, was the 42.84% national passing rate (2,967/6,925) recorded in May 2016.
