Security up, lanes closed for bar exams at UST
Portions of España Boulevard and Dapitan Street in Manila will be closed to all vehicles every Sunday this month to give way to the conduct of the 2016 bar exams on the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) campus.
According to Manila Police District director, Senior Supt. Joel Coronel, the westbound lane of España Boulevard (in front of UST) from A. H. Lacson Avenue to P. Noval Street will be closed to vehicular traffic between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, 13, 20 and 27.
On the same dates, the portion of Dapitan Avenue from A. H. Lacson Avenue and P. Noval Street will also be off-limits to all vehicles from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Liquor ban
Police will also strictly enforce a city ordinance banning the sale, use or distribution of liquor within 100 meters of UST.
“The liquor ban takes effect the night before the bar exams and until midnight the following day. This is to prevent previous occasions where there were members of fraternities, organizations and other associations drinking in the streets during the exam,” Coronel said.
In a statement, Mayor Joseph Estrada said he had directed Coronel to deploy a sufficient number of policemen around the UST on the four Sundays “to maintain peace and order and frustrate any attempt by lawless elements to disrupt the bar examinations.”
2010 grenade blast
During the 2010 bar exams held on the De La Salle University campus on Taft Avenue, Malate, a grenade explosion injured 47 people, including two students, who later required amputations.
The Department of Justice then ordered the indictment of Anthony Leal Nepomuceno, an Alpha Phi Omega fraternity member, in connection with the grenade attack.
Since the incident, the bar exams have been held at UST for security reasons. —KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY/rga
