INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — It’s official. The Supreme Court (SC) announced on Thursday that the 2023 Bar examination will again be computerized and localized with reduced number of days from four to only three set on an earlier date.
Under Bar Bulletin No. 1, the SC also announced that the number of examination days has been reduced from four to three–Septembers 17, 20 and 24. The SC has set the date much earlier compared to the 2022 Bar examination which was conducted last November.
“The rationale is both practical and societal: an earlier conduct of examinations means an earlier release of examination results; successful Bar examinees can commence their practice of law as early as December 2023; and new lawyers may begin contributing to their families and to the society as members of the Bar in the same year they graduated from law school,” read the first Bar Bulletin for next year’s examination.
Bar Bulletin No. 1 copy from SC-PIO
The core subjects to be tackled in the examination have also been narrowed down from 8 to 6 with Political and Public International Law and Commercial and Taxation laws on the first day of examination; Civil Law and Labor Law on the second day, and Criminal Law and Remedial Law, Legal and Judicial Ethics with practical exercises on the third day.
The digitalization and localization of the Bar Examinations was first implemented for the 2020/21 Bar examination and continued on the 2022 Bar exams.
Digitalization and localization of the exam was implemented to as part of safety protocols and travel restrictions due to COVID-19.
