Some bar examinees in Cebu City may have to wait another year to take what is considered the country’s toughest licensure test after they were found positive for COVID-19 using antigen tests.
Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementor of Cebu City’s Emergency Operations Center, said that those found positive on Wednesday were subjected to a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for confirmation and then brought to hotels for isolation.
The Supreme Court earlier required examinees to present a negative antigen or RT-PCR test result taken 48 hours or 72 hours before the bar respectively. The exams are set on Feb. 4 and 6.
Garganera declined to say how many had tested positive, saying only the high court could reveal the information.
About 1,200 law graduates in the city were scheduled to take the bar at the University of Cebu Banilad, University of San Carlos downtown campus and University of San Jose Recoletos Basak campus.
Garganera said that roads near the three universities would be closed to both pedestrians and vehicular traffic from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Only those with IDs and gate passes would be allowed entry.
The Philippine National Police said that about 200 policemen and force multipliers would be deployed to the city for the bar.
“We’ve been planning this for over a year already. It was postponed many times so we’re ready. Cebu City is very much ready,” Garganera said.Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvin Mario Leonen is overseeing this year’s exam, the only professional licensure test not administered by the Professional Regulation Commission.First time
This was the first time the bar would be held outside Metro Manila and also the first time it was being conducted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exams were called off in 2020 and last year.
Historically given in just one venue in Manila for four Sundays every November, this year’s bar would be held in 31 testing centers nationwide due to the risks and restrictions posed by COVID-19.
In Manila, road closures and traffic rerouting would also be implemented in the vicinity of University of Santo Tomas, Far Eastern University and De La Salle University where the bar would also be held.
The Makati City government, meanwhile, announced the temporary closure of its vaccination site at Fort Bonifacio Elementary School to give way to the exams at the adjacent University of Makati.
The stretch of J.P. Rizal Street extension from Buting to Lawton, would also be closed on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6, from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. —WITH A REPORT FROM DEXTER CABALZA