1,913 pass Bar exams

MANILA, Philippines—A total 1,913 out of 5,990 law graduates passed the 2011 Bar examinations, Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez announced on Tuesday.

The 1,913 passers, comprising 31.95 percent of examinees, is the second highest passing rate in the history of Bar examinations next to the 32 percent in 2003, said Marquez.

The full list of Bar passers, according to Marquez, will be released at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

A total of 6,200 law graduates qualified to take the examination but only 5,990 actually took the exam.

The passing rate was high, Marquez said due to the reforms undertaken in the 2011 examination, which included shifting from the purely essay-type to a multiple choice-type of exam and that examinees were required to write a memorandum and a legal opinion.

Each essay was graded by a panel of four examiners. The checking for the legal opinion and memorandum was completed on February 24.

The trial memorandum has a passing rate of 15.47 percent while the legal opinion has 50.78 percent passing rate.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Abad served as the chairman of the 2011 Bar examination.

The examiners were Court of Appeals Associate Justice Amy Lazaro Javier for Political Law; author and professor lawyer Cesario Alvero Azucena Jr. for Labor Law; author and former Justice Undersecretary Dean Ernesto Pineda for Civil Law; author and professor Abelardo Domondon for Taxation; Court of Appeals Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando for Mercantile Law; Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo for Criminal Law; former professor and practitioner Virgilio Manguera for Remedial law and professor Edwin Carillo for Legal Ethics.

Marquez said like in the previous year, the high court would set up a wide LCD at the SC courtyard where the names of successful examines could be viewed.

INQUIRER.net will publish the full list of Bar exam passers on Wednesday.