SC: Bar exams to proceed despite storm

MANILA, Philippines — This year’s Bar examinations will proceed as scheduled this month, the Supreme Court (SC) said yesterday, rejecting calls to have it postponed due to the damage caused by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng in several parts of the country.

“The 2022 Bar exams will proceed on Nov. 9, 13, 16 and 20 as originally scheduled and announced,” SC spokesman Brian Hosaka said in a tweet.

Bar Bulletin 6 of 2022 declared that rescheduling the dates of the four-day Bar exams would lead to unforeseen circumstances and contingencies.

Hosaka was earlier asked whether the Office of the Bar Confidant has received a formal request to move the Bar examinations amid mounting calls due to the devastation Paeng wreaked in many parts of the country, which may have affected some Bar takers.

He said that should there be a request, the high court would have to wait until the observance of Undas or All Saints’ and Souls’ Days is over to receive the petition.

The SC expects 9,916 law graduates to take the Bar exams this year. Initially, the SC approved 10,075 applicants, but 159 takers withdrew.

As part of the SC’s push for more regionalized and digitalized Bar exams, this year’s exams will be held in 14 testing centers across the country.

These include San Beda University, De La Salle University, Manila Adventist College, Ateneo Junior and High School Complex and University of the Philippines campus in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig for Metro Manila; Saint Louis University, De La Salle Lipa and University of Nueva Caceres for Luzon; University of Cebu, University of San Carlos and Dr. Vicente Oreste Romualdez Educational Foundation in Tacloban City for Visayas; and Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, Ateneo de Davao University-Senior High School and Ateneo de Zamboanga University for Mindanao.

Bar chairman Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa earlier asked the examinees to monitor their Bar PLUS dashboard for their final testing centers.