MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) The first bar examination in the Philippines was held in 1901, with 13 examinees.

The 2007 bar examination is the 106th year the test for aspiring lawyers is being conducted in the country.

The Supreme Court conducts the bar exams pursuant to Article 8 Section 5 of the Constitution, which gives the high tribunal the power to promulgate rules governing the admission to the practice of law.

In recent history, the 2001 bar examination has the highest number of passers -- 1,266 out of 3,849 examinees, or 32.89 percent.

But it was in 2006 that the highest number of aspiring lawyers took the test. A total of 6,187 law graduates took the bar exams, 30.60 percent of them or 1,893 passed the tests.

In 2005, 1,526 out of 5,607 examinees, or 27.22 percent, passed the professional licensure tests while 1,659 out of 5,249 passed the bar in 2004.

In 2003, a total of 1,108, or 20.71 percent, of the 5,349 who took the bar exams passed.

But the 2003 bar exam was hounded by controversy after the Supreme Court ordered a retake of the Mercantile law section of the test following a questionnaire leakage.

Last year, University of the Cordilleras law graduate Noel Neil Q. Malimban topped the examinations with a score of 87.60 percent.