Drilon backs calls for bar exams outside Metro Manila

CEBU CITY—Senate President Franklin Drilon said he would ask the Supreme Court to hold the bar exams in different venues for examinees from the provinces.

In a news conference here on Tuesday, he said he supported the clamor of law school deans for bar exams in the regions, not just in Metro Manila, to spare examinees from the high costs of transportation and lodging.

“I can sponsor a resolution urging the Supreme Court to hold the bar examinations in three sites in the country—Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao,” he said.

Drilon was in Cebu province to address graduates of the University of Cebu (UC) and meet with the school’s new lawyers, including Manuel Elijah Sarausad, who ranked sixth in last year’s bar exams.

Drilon said that while the Rules of Court mandate that the bar exams be held in Manila, it could be revised.

“The Supreme Court can amend the rules. They have the sole prerogative to do that,” Drilon said.

“Holding the bar exams in Manila is not something written in stone,” he added.

Rule 138, Section 11 of the Rules of Court states that “examinations for admission to the bar of the Philippines shall take place annually in the City of Manila. They shall be held in four days to be designated by the chair of the committee on bar examiners.”

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez earlier described as “impossible” the proposal to hold bar exams outside Manila.

Marquez, who was in Cebu two weeks ago, said the high court nonetheless needed to study calls to decentralize the bar exams.

But at present, he said the high court was opposed to holding bar exams outside Manila due to budget constraints.

The high court also fears that holding bar exams outside Manila would affect the tests’ integrity, he said.

Law schools in Cebu City have been asking the high court to decentralize the bar exams and conduct tests in other areas in the country.

They said decentralizing the bar exams would reduce expenses for examinees from the provinces who have to spend for transportation and lodging to take the tests in Manila.