San Beda graduate tops 2014 bar exams
On the eve of the big day she had been waiting for, Irene Mae Alcobilla posted a prayer on her Facebook page, with a line that said: Tomorrow, in Jesus’ name, my dream will come true.
On Thursday, more than just Alcobilla’s sweetest dream came true. The San Beda law graduate from Antique province topped the 2014 bar exams.
“If I dreamt anything, it was to belong to the top 10. But to be at the top is too much a responsibility and a blessing,” she told the Inquirer in a phone interview after the results of the 2014 bar examinations were released.
“I feel that what has happened to me is a miracle, a gift from the Lord. He gave me so much,” she said.
Alcobilla, 26, a native of San Remigio town in Antique, said she learned of her feat through the Viber page of her class at San Beda and through text messages. “I did not check the results online and I turned off my cell phone,”she said.
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Tears in the end
Alcobilla, formerly an intern at the Office of the Solicitor General and now with the Valenton Loseriaga law offices, sobbed on learning of the results.
On the eve of the release of the results, Alcobilla had posted her prayer on Facebook, saying: “I declare that tomorrow my dream will come true in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the Facebook post Alcobilla made on Wednesday was flooded with “likes” and messages of congratulations.
One reader said: “Truly your dream came true!”
Drilon challenge
For another bar passer, Ateneo de Manila Law valedictorian Christian Drilon, the bet with his famous politician-uncle, Senate President Franklin Drilon, had been won.
READ: 45 years later, Drilon nephew surpasses senator’s bar exam ranking
“He challenged me and said, ‘You will never outdo me. You can’t place No. 3.’ Now, I can tell him ‘Oh, what happened?’” Christian said in jest, when reached by phone.
The nephew of the Senate leader passed the bar in second place, beating the feat of his uncle, who placed third in the 1969 exams. The lawmaker’s son, Patrick, also made the cut.
“I know how he will respond: he’ll say his grade was higher than mine, even if I ranked No. 2,” said the younger Drilon, whose score of 85.45 percent was just below the senator’s 86.85 percent.
18.82% passed
A total of 1,126 out 5,984 takers, or 18.82 percent, passed the bar. They are scheduled to take their oath as lawyers on April 24.
The passing rate of barely a fifth of the exam takers was lower than the 2013 passing rate of 22.18 percent, or 1,174 out of 5,292 candidates.
The 2014 passing rate was also the second lowest in the last 15 years, next only to the worst year, 2012, where only 17.76 percent of takers passed.
Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, chair of the 2014 bar exams, said the passing rate was lowered from 75 to 73 percent upon his recommendation to the Supreme Court en banc.
Crowded top 10
It was the third consecutive year that the high court lowered the passing grade, allowing more takers to make the cut following a declining percentage of successful examinees over the last decade.
The rate was lowered to 70 percent in the 2012 bar and to 73 percent in 2013.
There were actually 13 law passers in the top 10, with three sharing fourth place and two sharing eighth place.
University of the Philippines (UP) graduate Sandra Magalang placed third with 84.6 percent.
Magalang earlier made news when she wrote a letter on the back of the guest list at the wake of late Health Secretary and Sen. Juan Flavier in November last year.
3-way tie
In that message, Magalang had thanked Flavier for his Oplan Sagip Mata, a program that served underprivileged children with vision impairment.
Having been “born cross-eyed and poor,” Magalang wrote that her life changed because of Flavier’s program. She graduated cum laude from the UP College of Law last year.
READ: How Juan Flavier, DOH program changed 2014 bar third-placer’s life
It was a three-way tie for fourth place with a score of 84.55: UP’s Mark Leo Bejemino, Gil Li Garcia II of Ateneo de Davao and Reginald Laco of De La Salle University-Lipa (DLSU-Lipa).
University of Cebu’s Michelle Liao made it to fifth place with 84.5 percent.
Bedans took sixth and seventh places, giving their school three in the top 10: Jose Angelo David scored 84.45 percent while Adrian Aumentado got 84.35 percent.
Shrieks and hugs
Sharing eighth place with 84.2 percent were UP Law’s Rhey David Daway and Fideliz Cardellie Diaz of the Far Eastern University-DLSU juris doctor-MBA program.
Jamie Liz Yu of UP placed ninth with 84 percent and Tristan Matthew Delgado of Ateneo placed 10th with 83.95 percent.
Shrieks, growls, tears, hugs and ecstatic phone calls followed every time a name was found on the list of passing takers.
“I’m very happy. It was very hard, that’s why I wanted to come here (on site) to see the results,” said Krisandra Malaluan of DLSU-Lipa, in tears after reading her name on the list.
Among the passers were two who could fully live up to their names—Michelle Marie Hatol and Christian Apollo Lawyer.
Alcobilla graduated class valedictorian at San Remigio Elementary School and at St. Vincent’s High School. She was magna cum laude in political science at West Visayas State University in Iloilo City.
Typhoon victims
The fifth of seven siblings, Alcobilla kept in mind that her family suffered during Typhoon “Frank” in 2008, when her mother Vilma drowned while her elder brother Arvi went missing after their house was swept by floodwaters. The typhoon left 531 dead.
“I did not blame the Lord and considered it a challenge,” she said.
But she is saddened that her mother is no longer around to share her achievement.
Her father Rito, 62, said his family was proud of what his daughter had achieved.
“Despite the loss of her mother and brother, she persevered. God taught us to be strong and faithful,” Rito said in a phone interview.
“Awards (like topping the bar) will not really determine my future,” Alcobilla said. “I still need to strive hard so I can become a good lawyer.”
CPA, too
It was not the first time fourth placer Reginald Laco, a graduate of DSLU-Lipa, made it to the top 10 in the country’s toughest licensure examinations. In 2009, he also placed second in the certified public accountant (CPA) board exam.
“He has always been brilliant,” said DSLU-Lipa vice chancellor Alicia Botardo.
Gil Garcia started his day attending the 6 a.m. Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Davao City. He then went to two more churches and was on his way to visit another when his phone rang. His prayers were answered—he had also placed fourth in the bar exams.
“I was en route to the Redemptorist Church when I got a phone call from a friend. I just stopped and cried,” Garcia told the Inquirer.
Church-hopping
Garcia, 27, graduated at top of his class at Ateneo de Davao University College of Law. In 2008, he got his BS Accountancy degree and passed the CPA board examination the year after.
Church-hopping was not new to Garcia. During his bar review, he and his friends also went to Our Lady of Manaoag Church in Pangasinan province.
“We asked for blessings. We even had our clothes, pens, IDs, even our underwear blessed. I had eight pens, one for each subject,” he said.
His one prayer (which was answered) was—to pass the bar in one take. With reports from Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and Joselle R. Badilla, Inquirer Mindanao
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