Bicol law grad tops Bar exams

MANILA, Philippines — A female law graduate of the University of Santo Tomas (UST)-Legazpi City in Albay topped the 2019 Bar exams, with the top five spots dominated by women, according to the list released by the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday.

With a score of 91.0490 percent, Mae Diane Azores bested 2,103 other passers.

Azores, 25, said that while she had “claimed” that she would be in the top 10 and would get eighth place, landing at no. 1 was beyond her wildest dreams.

In a duplicate 2”x2” photo that she submitted to the SC when she applied for the Bar, she wrote “top 8” at the back.

The topnotcher was “very happy and very thankful for the Lord, very grateful,” for not only passing but also for acing the exams.

At No. 2 was Princess Fatima Parahiman of the University of the East with a score of 89.5230 percent, followed by Myra Baranda from UST-Legazpi at No. 3 (88.8250 percent); No. 4, Dawna Fya Bandiola of the San Beda College Alabang (88.3360 percent) and No. 5, Jocelyn Fabello of Palawan State University (88.2630 percent).

Completing the top 10 were Kenneth Glenn Manuel of UST at No. 6 with a score of 88.1730 percent; Rhowee Buergo of Jose Rizal University at No. 7 (87.8710 percent); Anton Luis Avila of Saint Louis University at No. 8 (87.5820 percent); Jun Dexter Rojas of Polytechnic University of the Philippines at No. 9 (87.5765 percent), and Bebelan Madera of the University of St. La Salle at No. 10 (87.3795 percent).

This is the first time that UST-Legazpi (formerly Aquinas University) produced two graduates who made it to the Bar exams’ top 10.

Azores said she prayed the novena to St. Jude, the patron saint of hope and impossible causes, and to the Our Mother of Perpetual Help for guidance and assistance.

“Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), my original plan was just to stay in a church and wait for news on the Bar results. But (yesterday), I started my day by going to a nearby chapel and lighted a candle,” she said.

With the possibility that she would receive offers from private law firms, the Bar topnotcher said she is still overwhelmed by the results and has not yet made up her mind on her career path.

“I am not closing my doors. I will consider offers. I will probably go to where I could train, where I could be most beneficial, most valuable,” she said.

Azores is also a certified public accountant (CPA) and has been employed at the Commission on Audit (COA) in the Bicol Region since October 2018. She is a state auditing examiner 2.

She is grateful to COA because despite her employment of less than two years, it allowed her to go on study leave without pay and had been very supportive of her dream of becoming a lawyer.

“I just wanted to do my best because I have seen the support of my family, my friends and support of my office. They are all rooting for me. It is all or nothing, it is now or never,” said Azores, whose father is a jeepney operator and her mother works at a clinic.

“I am the first lawyer in the family,” added the first time Bar taker.

Azores is a constant academic achiever. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy and was the top of her class when she graduated from the UST-Legazpi Law School.

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, second-placer Baranda praised God for helping her not only to pass the Bar exams but also to land in the Top 10.

“Truly, You grant miracles,” Baranda said in her post, saying that she just wanted to pass and would have been happy with 75 percent.

Sixth-placer Manuel, like Azores, is a CPA and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, according to a tweet of the school. He was a consistent dean’s lister and an academic scholar when he was in college.

Lower passing rate

The SC decided to lower the passing rate from 75 percent to 74 percent because they saw that there would be need for younger and more tech-savvy lawyers at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to 2019 Bar exams chair Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe.

Congratulating the Bar passers, Bernabe advised them to “always be reminded that with the distinction you gained as lawyers comes the concomitant responsibility to further the ideals of justice and the rule of law.”

“Our society, especially during these most trying times, beckons you not only to become learned experts but more so to fight for the cause of the oppressed, to advance the pleas of the helpless and to inspire others as a living example of integrity above all,” she added.

The passing rate for last year’s Bar exams was 27.36 percent. Out of the 7,685 candidates who completed the examinations, only 2,103 examinees passed the test, according to Bernabe.

The figure and percentage are higher than the 22.07 percent (1,800 out of 8,158) examinees who passed the 2018 Bar examination, according to the SC.

The 2019 Bar exams was the 118th held in the country. Spread out during four Sundays of November last year, the exams were held at the UST in Sampaloc, Manila.

‘Unfamiliar, trying’

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta also congratulated the 2019 Bar passers.

In his one-page message, Peralta took note that the circumstances of the occasion are “unfamiliar and trying.”

“Today, as necessitated by our current reality, the SC broke tradition as it prepared to formally induct you into the legal profession,” he said.

While the Bar passers may have been deprived of seeing their names posted on bulletin boards and flashed on LED screens at the SC compound along Padre Faura Street in Manila, which has been the practice in previous Bar results, the Chief Justice said, “It is undeniable that the sight of your names in the list of passers serves as your just reward for years of dutiful study and hard work. You have earned the triumph of this moment; own it, for you have proven yourselves worthy of it.”

Adhering to the government’s call for physical distancing amid the COVID-19 crisis, the SC decided to post the results of the 2019 Bar exams on its website.

Meanwhile, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen yesterday reminded those who passed the Bar that the privilege of becoming lawyers is coupled with the responsibility of serving the people.

“Every privilege comes with responsibility. Address inequality. Strive for social justice. Serve the people,” Leonen told new lawyers in a post on Twitter.

As for those who failed to make the cut, they should not be disheartened.

“What may seem to you as a failure will only continue to be so if you allow it to diminish you as a human being rather than strive to learn from it. Do not be tempted by hate, anger or envy,” he said. “Your time will come.”

After passing the Bar, they would take the Lawyer’s Oath and finally sign in the Roll of Attorneys to make them full-fledged lawyers.

No Bar exams this year

Aspiring lawyers would have to wait until next year after the SC announced that it would postpone the 2020 Bar exams.

In a one-page Bar Bulletin, the SC’s Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) said Leonen, 2020 Bar examinations chairman, recommended that they postpone the scheduled exams this year to consider the effects of COVID-19.

The SC said it needed time to make the necessary adjustments to conduct a safe and orderly examination.

“In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country as well as the social and economic disruption caused by the pandemic and the resulting enhanced community quarantine, the SC en banc resolved to postpone the 2020 Bar examinations,” Leonen said.

It was also announced that this would be the first time that the Bar exams would also be held outside Manila – in Cebu City – as an effort to regionalize the exams.

Malacañang, meanwhile, yesterday urged successful Bar examinees to protect people’s rights and to consider a career in the government.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the new lawyers should keep in mind that they studied law because of the ideal that “the legal profession is a noble profession.” – With Alexis Romero, EmmanuelTupas