MANILA, Philippines — The first day of the 2022 Bar examinations was relatively peaceful, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported yesterday.
Based on the reports received from field units, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the activities at universities serving as testing centers went smoothly.
“No untoward incident recorded,” Fajardo said in a text message.
National Capital Region Police Office chief Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said the NCRPO deployed 500 police officers around the testing centers, namely De La Salle University (DLSU), San Beda University (SBU), Manila Adventist College (MAC), University of the Philippines Bonifacio Global City (UP-BGC) campus and Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU).
“We will implement security measures on roads leading to testing centers to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of the Bar exams,” Estomo said in a statement.
Thousands of Bar examinees trooped to 14 local testing centers nationwide for the first day of the four-day examinations supervised by the Supreme Court (SC) and chaired this year by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.
In a Twitter post, the SC said Caguioa inspected the Bar testing center at the AdMU and encouraged examinees to do their best in taking the exams while some examinees from various testing centers were dropped off by their loved ones.
SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka was not available for comment yesterday for the initial assessment on the first day of the Bar examinations. He told reporters in a Viber message that they are still waiting for the final figures from Caguioa’s office on the number of examinees who took the test yesterday.
In an earlier statement, the SC said 9,821 candidates were expected to take the examinations yesterday: 5,847 first time-takers while 3,974 will take the exams for the second time or more in 14 local testing centers nationwide.
The testing centers are SBU, DLSU, MAC, AdMU, UP-BGC, Saint Louis University (SLU), De La Salle (DLS) Lipa, University of Nueva Caceres (UNC), University of Cebu (UC), University of San Carlos (USC), Dr. Vicente Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation (DVOREF), Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan (XU-AdC), Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) and Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU).
Of the 14 local testing centers, the SC said AdMU has the largest number of Bar examinees at 2,529 while AdZU has the least number of examinees at 267.
The SBU has 600 Bar examinees; DLSU, 794; MAC, 350; UP-BGC, 680; SLU, 1,000; DLS Lipa, 366; UNC, 465; UC, 789; and USC, 530.
The DVOREF has 392 bar examinees while XU-AdC and the AdDU have 464 and 780 bar examinees, respectively.
The succeeding Bar examinations are scheduled on Nov. 13, 16 and 20.