2020-2021 Bar exams to be held in at least 16 testing centers across country
MANILA, Philippines — The 2020-2021 Bar examinations will be held in at least 16 testing sites across the country — a historic move by the Supreme Court — and more may be added soon, the Supreme Court said Friday.
In a release from the SC Public Information Office on Friday, SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said that to date, 16 local testing centers have already signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the SC en banc.
The number of testing centers may reach 25 as the SC is still negotiating with “several large schools to accommodate more bar examinees.”
On Thursday, the SC en banc trooped to Saint Louis University in Baguio City to witness the signing of the contract between the school and high court. This makes SLU the premier learning institution in the North as one of the local testing centers for the next Bar exams.
Other than SLU, other schools that have been signed the memorandum are the following:
- Ateneo de Manila University
- Manila Adventist College
- Saint Louis College – La Union
- Saint Mary’s University
- Cagayan State University
- De La Salle Lipa
- University of Nueva Caceres
- University of Cebu – Banilad
- Mindanao State University – Iligan
- Mindanao State University – General Santos City
- Ateneo de Davao University
- Xavier University – Cagayan de Oro
- Ateneo de Zamboanga University
Bar exams before the pandemic were held at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in the four Sundays of November,.
The 2020-2021 Bar exams will still be held across all Sundays of November, but this time, in several sites across the country.
Bar applicants will also no longer need to line up at the Office of the Bar Confidant. The high court said it will launch on July 15 an online portalcalled Bar Personalized Login Unified System or Bar PLUS.
The online portal will allow applicants to submit their personal details, access the necessary forms and upload petition requirements and pay their application fees digitally. They can also pick their preferred exam venue, subject to the approval of the Office of the Bar Confidant.
Preparations at 'full throttle’
Leonen also stressed that preparations for the 2020-2021 Bar examinations are underway. “SC has not suspended the Bar exam. We are full throttle in terms of preparing this,” he said.
This comes after Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III floated the idea to abolish the licensure tests, including the Bar exams, in the country.
Leonen however stressed: “I would like to clarify and every law student and applicant should know this: the Bar exams is conducted by the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo also rejected the idea of abolishing Bar exams, as he cited that the Rules of Court mandate the conduct of the test for lawyers.
The chief justice also said that he will propose to the SC members to “look into the revision of Rule 138 (of the Rules of Court) particularly on the Bar Exam coverage.”
Gesmundo noted that the said rule has not been amended since its promulgation in 1964 and “law courses have [since] become varied.”
“I would like the Court to continue looking at the course offerings of law schools along with the Revised Model Curriculum prepared by the Legal Education Board,” he added.
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