No new test for Bar examinees

There will be no repeat of that part of the Bar exam.

The Supreme Court has approved the petitions filed by various groups to cancel the scheduled re-examination on mercantile law after the court nullified the results of that segment of the Bar examination held on Sept. 21.

In a four-page resolution issued en banc yesterday, the High Court decided to cancel the Bar re-examination in mercantile law scheduled on Oct. 4.

Instead of having Bar examinees retake the mercantile law test, the 15 percent weight of the subject will be re-allocated to the seven remaining Bar exam subjects.

The SC also resolved to create a committee composed of three retired members of the High Court to look into suspected leakage of the mercantile law section of the Bar exam.

Last Sept. 23, the SC nullified the mercantile law test given on Sept. 21 in response to a report and the recommendations of Justice Jose Vitug, 2003 Bar examinations chairman.

The SC has also resolved to create a committee composed of three retired members of the high tribunal to look into the suspected leakage of the mercantile law section of the Bar exam.

The SC resolution also decided that the Bar examinees must retake the mercantile law test on Oct. 4, a decision that drew vehement protetst from various groups, including the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) and the deans of a number of law schools.

"The court has observed that, although petitioners/movants have agreed to the nullification of the bar examinations in mercantile law, they, however, have expressed strong reservations against the holding of another examination on the subject," the resolution noted.

The petitioners argued that the holding of another exam would be unfair to a huge number of examinees who came to Manila from the provinces just to take the exam.

Besides this, the physical and emotional burden of the examinees in reviewing for the Bar examinations was also cited as a reason to cancel the retest.

The petitioners also said only a few schools are perceived to have been in possession of the leaked Bar examination questions.

Of the 46 deans of law schools who were present at the referendum held by the PALS earlier, 40 voted in favor of the petition to cancel the reexamination, three voted against and three abstained.