Legal board told to answer plea vs law school admission test

Supreme Court facade (Photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Supreme Court has ordered the Legal Education Board (LEB) to respond on the petition that challenges the constitutionality of Republic Act 7662 or the Legal Education Reform Act that brought about the admission test to anyone who wants to enter Law school.

High Court’s Information Chief Atty. Theodore Te said the SC has ordered the LEB represented by its chair Emerson B. Aquende and LEB member and former Court Administrator Zenaida Elepaño to comment on the petition filed by retired Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Oscar Pimentel.

Respondents were given 10 days to submit their comment.

Pimentel, who is currently a member of the University of Santo Tomas faculty of Civil Law and an MCLE lecturer, also urged the high court to stop the implementation of LEB Memorandum Order No. 7 which scheduled the conduct of the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhilSAT) nationwide.

LEB’s Memorandum Order No. 7 dated Dec. 29, 2016 provided for the mechanisms on the one-day aptitude test that intends to measure the academic potential of an examinee who wants to pursue law.

The first PhilSAT examination was held last April 16 in seven sites across the country: Baguio City, Metro Manila, Legazpi City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City.

According to LEB’s memorandum, while school year 2017-2018 will be the pilot year for PhilSAT, law schools in the country will still be allowed to enroll students who took the exams but did not meet the passing score of 55 percent.

LEB requires all law schools to comply with the provisions of the new regulation or they will be subjected to sanctions and a fine of up to P10,000.