357 back out of gruelling bar exams, says SC

MANILA, Philippines — The 2014 bar exams ended on Sunday, with 5,987 of the original 6,344 examinees who started the tests on Oct. 5 still standing.

This was 357 fewer lawyer candidates who “remain(ed) after three Sundays,” said the Supreme Court in a tweet.

On its Twitter page on Sunday, the high court’s public information office (PIO) said one of those who took the tests all four Sundays was 88-year-old Bulacan native Bienvenido Hilario, this year’s oldest bar examinee. The high court tweet even carried a picture of Hilario.

The bar exams, one of the toughest licensure tests, was held at the University of Sto. Tomas on España, Manila. The examination on the final day were on Remedial Law and Legal Ethics.

Earlier, the high court said there were more exam re-takers than first-timers this year. A total of 3,229 or 50.9 percent of the examinees were repeaters, while 3,115 or 49.1 percent were first-time takers.

This year’s exams were the first after the Supreme Court removed the cap on retakes, lifting the five-strike rule.

Last year, only 1,174 out of 5,593 candidates, or 22.18 percent, passed the bar.

Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta is this year’s chair for the bar exams.

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