Bar passer behind bars: Alleged Cebu robbery mastermind aces 2023 Bar exams

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:39 p.m.) — An alleged mastermind of jewelry and pawnshop store heist in Cebu City conquered the 2023 Bar examinations.

Former political prisoner Jigger Geverola, arrested for Oro Sugbu Pawnshop and Jewelry Store robbery in late November, was one of the 3,812 successful Bar examinees out of the 10,387 law hopefuls who took the three-day exams last September. The Supreme Court said that this translates to a passing rate of 36.77%.

The 2023 Bar exams results announcement came days before he was identified as a law graduate from Southwestern University.

In an interview with The Freeman, Geverola said that he has mixed feelings about passing the Bar.

“I thank God and all the support from everyone,” he said in Cebuano.

Geverola, who is from Barangay Gutlang, Argao in Cebu, is currently detained at the custodial facility of Cebu City Police Office.

The Cebu City Police Office said that Geverola's fellow robbery suspects in the pawnshop and jewelry story, Dann Carlo Flores and Jordan Baquino, pointed Geverola as the mastermind of the incident.

The two suspects said that Geverola ordered them to take the red Honda Civic sedan as their "getaway vehicle."

Gerevola, however, denied the accusations against him and said that he was in a feeding program when the burglary happened. — with reports from James Relativo and the Freeman