Drilon supports Bar Exams in Visayas, Mindanao

CEBU, Philippines -  The call to decentralize the Bar Examinations is gaining ground as Senate President Franklin Drilon will sponsor a resolution urging the Supreme Court to hold the examinations also in the Visayas and Mindanao.

But the former secretary of the Department of Justice said the Senate cannot legislate on this matter since it is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

“I will sponsor a resolution for the Supreme Court to allow the holding of the examinations in the Visayas and Mindanao,” said Drilon in a press conference yesterday at the University of Cebu.

Rule 138 (Attorneys and Admission to Bar), Section 11 of the Rules of Court, provides that the examinations for admission to the Bar of the Philippines shall take place annually in the City of Manila.

Bar Examinations, touted as the country’s most difficult government examination, is done in four days.

The University of Cebu-College of Law recently launched an online petition urging the Supreme Court to allow the decentralization of Bar Examinations.

UC-College of Law Dean Baldomero Estenzo believed that more bar takers will pass if the exams are done outside Metro Manila since this would free them from the financial and psychological baggage.

Estenzo and the rest of the law deans in the Visayas have filed a petition in 2010 asking the Supreme Court to also hold the Bar Exams in regional centers like Cebu.

“The Senate will support this move,” Drilon assured.

For the past four years, however, the High Court remains silent on this matter. (FREEMAN)