Long wait over for 5,758 law graduates as Bar results out today

After six months of waiting, the verdict is finally delivered today for some 5,758 law graduates who took last year’s Bar, one of the most anticipated licensure test results in the country.

Amid an air of anxiety and excitement, throngs of aspiring lawyers will once again fill the Supreme Court (SC) grounds on Padre Faura street in Ermita, Manila as it releases the test results in the afternoon — with particular interest paid to the top Bar examinees.

Supreme Court chief information officer Ismael Khan said the names of Bar passers will be flashed on a wide video screen to be set up on the SC grounds.

Security and utility workers at the SC premises started putting steel barriers around the High Tribunal grounds to serve as a waiting area for examinees eager to receive the results first-hand.

The 5,758 examinees in 2005 registered a record high in the more than 100-year-old bar exams history.

The 2005 Bar was the first time the "five-strike policy" took effect, meaning a candidate could take the government-administered test a maximum of five times before he or she was out of the running.

This ruling is pursuant to the SC’s resolution in Bar Matter No. 1161 on the Proposed Reforms in the Bar Examinations, which provides, among others, that those who have taken Bar Exams five or more times and yet failed, shall no longer be eligible to take the test in the future.

In 2004, a total of 1,659 out of the 5,249 examinees from more than 75 law schools nationwide hurdled the 2004 Bar held on the four consecutive Sundays of September at the De La Salle University in Manila.

Topping last year’s Bar was January Sanchez, 26, from the University of the Philippines.

Justice Romeo Callejo Sr. served as the chairman of the Committee on the 2005 Bar Exams, while the exams were administered by Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Ma. Cristina Layusa.

For years, the Bar has been among the most interesting, even controversial, licensure tests wherein the success stories of leading examinees become top news stories.

In 2004, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago called for an abolition of Bar exams, claiming the previous years had seen a marked decrease in the rate of passers.

The Rules of Court provide that a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject.