TECHNIQUES IN ANSWERING BAR QUESTIONS BY

ATTY. REY TATAD JR.

REASON/S BEHIND THE LAW
1. The purpose of the aw s
2. The aw s desgned to
3. It s ntended to shed
4. It s prmary amed at protectng ____________ from unwarranted __________
5. The ratonae behnd the aw s
6. The sprt of the aw s to the ehect that
DEFINITION / EXPLANATION
1. ________________ s a comprehensve term used to descrbe _________.
2. _________________, n ts generay accepted sense, refers to .
3. It s a safeguard and guarantee provded by the 1987 Consttuton..
4. It s a knd of reef granted to a ______________ by the
5. ________________ s a branch of pubc aw (or prvate aw) whch deas wth..
6. It pertans to
7. It connotes a .
8. s a doctrne n (.e. Cv Law) whch refers to
9. s a prncpe n (.e. Crmna Law) whch states that
10. It presupposes
11. Its prncpa dentfyng feature s..
12. It s akn to
13. The functon of whch s to
14. The omce of whch s to
ENUMERATION
1. In capsue form, the foowng are the eements of the crme of
2. In a nutshe, the foowng are the eements of the crme of
3. The foowng eements are generay consdered n the determnaton ofthe
presence of (.e. empoyer-empoyee reatonshp)
4. Among the (.e. defenses/remedes) avaabe to (.e. Mr. X) as provded for by/n
the (.e. Cv Code) are:
(1)
(2)
5. The foowng are the requstes for
6. In order that a case for (.e. B.P. 22) to prosper, the foowng eements must be
attendant/present:
7. To consttute (.e. homcde), the foowng requstes must concur:
8. (.e. Lega compensaton) requres the concurrence of the foowng condtons:
9. To estabsh a persons cupabty under (.e. estafa), t s ndspensabe that
* Tps on answers that requre enumeratng somethng. (.e. eements). If you can
enumerate a, wrte t n bueted or numbered form to hghght the fact that you
know a of them and for more convenent-readng purposes. If you cannot
enumerate a, wrte t n paragraph form so that t woud not easy be notceabe
that you mssed somethng. (I got the above tp from our mentor Atty. Gafar
Lutan)
DISTINCTION
When beng asked to dstngush, do not state ts denton. If you gve ts
denton, you are n ehect askng the examner to extract out the dherences of
the two |or more| from your denton. Do not aso gve ther smartes. You are
asked to dherentate and contrast, so smartes are not ncuded (That was a tp
I earned from my professor n Cv Law Revew I, Atty. Vrgo Gesmundo).The
number of dstnctons you w gve must aso be proportonate on the ponts
aotted for such. If t s ony worth two ponts, do not gve 8 dstnctons. The
examner cannot gve you 8 ponts for that.... For a two pont dstncton queston,
perhaps, three woud be enough (four s not too much).
1. The (.e. two) may be dstngushed from each other n the foowngs
ways:
a.
b.
2. In the rst, t s necessary that there be.., whereas n the second t s
sumcent
that there be .
3. In the former, whe n the atter
4. The former requres whe the atter
5. on the other hand ______________ s
ANSWERING QUESTIONS WITH VAGUE FACTS (or w!" r#$%!r#&
$%'(!)"'*!o+,
But f the facts are compete n tsef, do not attempt to add facts or assume
anythng.
1. We must dstngush. If (or As far as the __________ s concerned)
2. It depends. If(or As far as the __________ s concerned)
3. The queston requres a quaed answer. If
4. I w quafy. If
5. On the assumpton that
6. My answer must be quaed.
JURISDICTION
1. The case s beyond the ambt of the |ursdcton of the (.e. Regona TraCourt)
2. It s wthn the ambt of the (.e. Secretary of Labors) power.
3. It s not wthn the provnce of the (.e. Muncpa Tra Court)
4. It s ceary wthn the powers of the (.e. Labor Arbter) to
5. The case of (.e. e|ectment) es wth the Muncpa Tra Court.
6. The case s cognzabe by the (.e. Regona Tra Court)
7. The case s covered by the (Rues on Summary Procedure).
8. The aw vests upon the (.e. Secretary of |ustce) the power to
ELABORATING/EXPOUNDING ANSWERS
Go &*r'!-* *o *# .o!+*. The ength of answers and expoundng the same,
must aways be proportonate to the ponts aotted for such partcuar queston.
The hgher the ponts, the more n-depth the eaboraton shoud be. However, t
must not appear "na namboboa ka na". Sometmes, f your answer s too ong, t
s an ndcaton that you are not sure of the answer so there s that need of gettng
around the bush. Remember that most of the tmes, MORE TALK, MORE
MISTAKE!!! (I got ths tp from my professor n Potca Law, Dean Marano F.
Magsan, |r.)
1. It shoud be borne n mnd that
2. It must be noted that
3. It may be recaed that
4. It s worth observng
5. It must be taken nto consderaton that
6. More mportanty, .
7. Sgncanty,
8. Coroary,
9. Furthermore,
10. Moreover,
11. Smary,
12. Parenthetcay,
13. In other words,
14. Otherwse stated,
15. Smpy put,
16. Smpy stated,
17. Stated more concretey
18. The reasons are obvous. (expound)
19. The reasons are we-known. (expound)
20. The reasons are pan. (expound)
21. Under the same ne of reasonng,
22. As regards
23. Wth regard to (t s error to state "wth regards to")
24. Anent the (.e. rst ssue),
25. As far as the ________________ s concerned,
26. Ths s ndcated by the fact that
27. The anguage of the aw eaves no room for doubt that,
28. |ustce and far-pay dctates that,
29. Appyng the prncpe of.
30. For a ts conceded merts, (.e. equty s avaabe n the absence of awand
not as ts repacement)
31. The aw s categorca wth regard to
32. Notwthstandng the (.e. executon of the document)
33. It s beyond debate that,
34. It s mperatve to ook at,
35. Ths s consstent wth the tme-honored maxm (.e. nuum crmen nua
poena sne ege).
36. As t s mbued wth pubc nterest,
37. In ke manner,
38. In the same manner,
39. In the same ven,
40. In the same breath,
41. Lkewse,..
42. In ne,
43. It bears artcuatng that
44. The controng eement n the (.e. crme of estafa) s
45. By anaogy,
46. Sumce t to state that..
47. Emphass must aso be paced at
48. Manfesty, there was (.e. grave abuse of dscreton amountng to ack or
excess of |ursdcton)
49. Needess to stress that
50. It goes wthout sayng that
51. The Supreme Court frowns upon the (.e. ega practce of forum shoppng as
t erodes the admnstraton of |ustce and makes a mockery of the |ustce
system).
52. There s no denyng n ths case, that (.e. the pettoner never rased the ssue
of |ursdcton throughout the entre proceedngs n the tra court; case of T|am
vs. Sbonghanoy)
53. It s now too ate n the day for the respondent/defendant to (.e. rase the
ssue
of )
54. Equay teng s the (.e. factua ndng of the ower court) that
55. The gravamen of the (.e. the crme of rebeon s an armed pubc uprsng
aganst the government)
56. It cannot be dened that (.e. the pettoner s aso guty of neggence)
57. Attenton must be drawn to the fact that
58. ___________ and ____________ are two mutuay excusve remedes. An
appcaton of one precudes the appcaton of the other.
59. To ampfy,
60. It must be ponted out that
61. Notaby,
62. At the outset, the (.e. defendant)
63. Comng now to the ssue of (.e. prescrpton),
CITING LAW PROVISIONS
1. No ess than the (.e. 1987 Consttuton) provdes for the
2. The (.e. Rues of Court) substantay provdes n part that
3. Under the broad prncpes of (.e. due process cause)
4. Under the a-encompassng doctrne of (.e. ncontestabty cause)
5. Under the aw
6. Accordng to the (.e. Famy Code)
7. The aw s expct on the matter.
8. The aw expcty expresses n part that
9. By express provson of aw,
10. By operaton of aw
11. As a matter of aw
12. Worth rememberng s the rue on _______________ whch provdes n part
that
13. Decsve on the matter s the pertnent provson of the (.e. Law on Property)
14. The aw prescrbes certan rues on
15. By egsatve at
QUOTING SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
1. The Supreme Court n one case, had the occason to rue that
2. In a ong-ne of cases decded by the Supreme Court, t has aways been
(consstenty) hed that
3. In a tany of cases decded by the Supreme Court,
4. In a ong-strng of cases decded by the hghest court of the and,
5. Accordng to severa cases decded by the Supreme Court,
6. In a seres of cases decded by the Supreme Court,
* Do not use the words seres, tany or ong-ne
f there s ony one decson/|ursprudence for that topc.
7. In one case decded by the hghest court of the and, t was hed that
8. In one case, the Supreme Court rued that
9. It has been sad that
10. In a recent case, the Supreme Court has ad to rest the ssue of whether or
not
11. It s we setted n ths |ursdcton
12. It s we setted n ths country
13. The Supreme Court has steadfasty adhered to the doctrne whch states that
14. In a case wth smar facts, the Supreme Court rued that
15. In severa notabe Supreme Court decsons, the hghest court decared that
16. The Supreme Court has often stressed that
17. In the andmark case of _____________, (f the case s so famous) the Supreme
Court ad down the doctrne whch substantay provdes that
18. In the eadng case of
19. As enuncated by the Supreme Court n one case,
20. The court has repeatedy rued
21. A case n pont s a case aready decded by no other than the hghest court of
the and, where the Supreme Court hed that
22. There s kewse an array of cases n ths |ursdcton where the Supreme Court
has consstenty decared that
23. Deepy rooted s the |ursprudence whch provdes that
24. In one case, the Supreme Court was emphatc when t rued that.
EMPHASI/ING CASE DOCTRINES / JURISPRUDENCE
1. It s hornbook doctrne n (.e. Cv Law) that
2. Immorta s the rue that
3. We setted s the rue
4. We entrenched s the prncpe that..
5. Eementary s the rue that..
6. The cardna rue n (.e. abor aw) s that
7. It s a famar canon n (.e. potca aw) that
8. By we setted pubc aw
9. Basc s the rue n (.e. Crmna Law)
10. It s an eementary prncpe n
11. It s a fundamenta doctrne n
12. We accepted s the rue that
13. It s axomatc n (.e. Cv Law) that
14. Enshrned n the 1987 Consttuton s the rue that (.e. no person sha be
deprved of fe, berty or Property wthout due process of aw)
15. Consonant wth the rue on
16. It s a recognzed doctrne n (.e. Cv aw) that
17. It s a basc tenet n (.e. Commerca Law)
18. Consstent wth current |ursprudence
19. It s a ega presumpton, born of wsdom and experence, that (.e. omca duty
has been reguary performed; that the proceedngs of a |udca trbuna are
reguar and vad and that |udca acts and dutes have been and w be duy and
propery performed. The burden of provng rreguarty n omca conduct s on the
part of the pettoners.)
20. It s an oft-repeated rue that
21. The Phppnes adhere to the prncpe of
REFERRING BAC0 TO THE CASE ("orr#('*!+- *# 1'"*& w!* *#
('w/2%r!&.r%3#+"#,
Note: In my persona opnon, t s not proper to use the statements "n the case
at
bench" or "n the case at bar" when answerng. Athough I guess t s very
temptng
because t sounds good and professona to state, "n the case at bar/bench", we
must
not forget that the cases gven n the Bar are ony theoretca. The statements "n
the
case at bench" and "n the case at bar" are more appropratey used n peadngs
n
court. After a, you can use the statements "In the nstant case, In the facts gven,
In the probem gven and In the queston presented."
1. Appyng the sad aw/doctrne n the nstant case,
2. From the facts gven, noteworthy s the
3. From the facts of the case, t s ready observabe that
4. In the nstant case, t may be observed that
5. It s crysta cear from the facts presented that (.e. the crme of treason) s
present (or was commtted).
6. In the present case, t s mmedatey notceabe that the eement of __________
s wantng (or ackng).
7. Under the crcumstances, the proper remedy woud be
8. The case obtanng ndcates a case of (.e. B.P. 22)
9. It ogcay foows
10. It goes wthout sayng
11. Even assumng arguendo, for the sake of argument that
12. The stuaton n the case at hand
13. The stuaton presented evnces a case of...
14. The facts sumcenty ndcated
15. In the gven facts, t s mmedatey apparent that
16. It s evdent that
17. In the same token
18. Under the facts stated n the probem,
19. In the case under consderaton,
20. Worth stressng s the fact that
21. Worth emphaszng s the fact that
22. The facts woud revea that
23. A carefu perusa of the facts of the case woud revea that
24. A carefu scrutny of the actuatons of the accused woud revea that
25. A carefu readng of the (.e. Deed of Absoute Sae) woud revea that
26. A cursory examnaton of the
ANSWERING IN THE POSITIVE
1. The petton s mertorous.
2. The contenton has ega bass.
3. The case w prosper.
4. The argument s proper.
5. The provson s perfecty appcabe.
6. The acton s tenabe.
7. The moton shoud be granted.
8. The |udge s correct.
9. The petton s mpressed wth mert.
10. Yes. It s a (.e. patent voaton) of the
11. There s mert n the petton.
12. The pettoners contenton s sustanabe.
ANSWERING IN THE NEGATIVE
1. The contenton does not hod water.
2. Wth a due respect to the |udge, hs decson s apparenty erroneous or s not
n accord wth aw and exstng |ursprudence.
3. The contenton s totay mspaced.
4. It s now too ate n the day to rase the ssue of
5. The petton s not mertorous.
6. The evdence presented deserves scant consderaton.
7. The contenton has no ega bass.
8. The argument s bereft of mert.
9. The petton s devod of mert.
10. Pettoners reance on the (.e. doctrne of) s napproprate. The doctrne of
does not appy n cases where / of
11. It s a fute gesture on the part of the respondent to nvoke the rue on
12. The theory/argument has no ground to stand upon.
13. The contenton has no eg wth whch to stand on.
14. The poston of the pettoner runs counter wth the doctrne of
15. The case w not prosper.
16. The case s not tenabe.
17. The act of the accused n s of no moment.
18. The asserton acks substance.
19. The decson s erroneous.
20. The court cannot countenance the (.e. nconsstent postures of the
pettoner)
21. The testmony that, cannot be gven credence.
22. The evdence presented has no probatve vaue.
23. The aegaton s beed by the fact that
24. To put t otherwse woud be to render the aw on _____________ useess/fute.
25. The actuatons of the accused n (.e. eeng and hdng) negates (.e.
nnocence)
26. Whe t s true that _______________ s a (.e. consttutona guaranteed rght of
a person), t does
not, however mean
27. It s not correct to say that
28. It s not proper to state that
29. It s not accurate to concude outrght that
30. A contrary concuson woud erode the rue that provdes n part that
31. To sustan the contenton woud be to render the aw on ____________ nugatory.
32. It woud be absurd and ncongruous to sustan the argument that
33. It s not enough that
34. The fact that s mmatera snce
35. The fact that s rreevant snce
36. In tsef, mere s not sumcent (.e. to warrant convcton).
37. The pettoner cannot gve any addtona meanng to the cear and pan
anguage of the aw.
38. The Supreme Court, n severa cases, has struck down the (.e. defense of
ab)
39. The attendant crcumstances of the case are contrary to the pettoners
asserton.
40. The evdence does not support the theory of the pettoners.
41. There s no cogent reason to dsturb the rung of the (.e. Court of Appeas)
42. The cam for (.e. mora damages) must necessary fa.
43. The (.e. respondent) cannot rey on (.e. mere abs) to ad hs cause.
CONCLUDING WORDS
1. From the gamut of evdence on hand, t can be gathered/deduced that,
2. Taken a together,
3. Fnay,
4. Hence,
5. Therefore,
6. From the foregong, t can be deduced that there s reay (.e. a voaton of)
7. From the foregong, t s now safe to concude that.
8. Lasty,
9. Consequenty,
10. As a necessary consequence
11. The ogca mpcaton s that
12. At any rate,
13. In vew of the foregong,
14. As an nevtabe concuson,
15. In the ght of the crcumstances,
16. Undoubtedy,
17. Indubtaby,
18. Ceary, the case at hand fas squarey wthn the purvew of
19. Very, he/she has commtted
20. For ths/these reason/s, t s unavodabe to concude that
21. Based on the facts obtanng,
22. In ths ght,
23. Ths beng the case
24. Ceary therefore, appyng the aforected rung n the case at hand,
25. In ght of the foregong, t s beyond cav (doubt) that,
26. There s no doubt that
27. To the unpre|udced mnd, the actuatons of the three, when anayzed and
taken together, eads to no other concuson except that (.e. conspracy among
them exsted)
28. Inescapaby, therefore,
29. A thngs consdered,
30. It foows therefore that
31. As a ogca resut
32. In sum,..
33. In vew of the fact that,
34. A tod,
35. Gven the prevang facts
36. Havng stated the foregong premses,
37. One na pont,
38. Accordngy,
MY PERSONAL ADVICE FOR FUTURE BAR CANDIDATES DURING THE
REVIEW
Aways pray before and after studyng.
Turn oh your ceuar phones. (Turn t on ony durng your break). Most or a
sgncant part of our tme revewng s sometmes spent on non-sense (or not so
mportant) textng-repyng-textng-repyng. There s a tme for everythng. But
when you revew, avod nterruptons. Ceuar phone, beeve me, s one of the
ma|or nterruptons. Athough t s hard, why not sacrce a tte for the sake of
beng a awyer.
Beeve n yoursef. If you w not, then who do you expect woud beeve n you.
(Tp from Sr Bubut Cayco)
Choose a study buddy f you want. But sometmes t s better that you do
not have one. More study buddes, more nterruptons (more kwento). Wthout you
knowng t, "tapos na araw or September na".
Before startng your revew, be sure that the tenson has aready subsded.
(Speccay startng the month of |uy when tensons reay soars hgh for most
Bar canddates) Bear n mnd that we can comprehend more f we are n a reaxed
state of mnd.
Set your own pace. Do not compare your pace wth others (ke askng others,
"ang readng ka na?") Ths s not a rat race. Ouaty readng(studyng/revewng
actuay) s what s needed. Bar does not dwe on the amount of pages/books you
have read, t s more of how much you have mastered.
Do not memorze wthout comprehendng. When menta bock occurs, you
cannot reca even a snge thng. Moreover, n appyng the aw n a gven
theoretca case probem, for sure you can hardy answer the same f you have
memorzed wthout understandng.
Do not hghght the entre revewer . Sometmes, the probem wth hghghtng
s that t becomes our securty banket that we have read and understood what we
have read. But more often, we have not.
When you have a query or some matters n mnd that needs carcaton, |ust
wrte t n a pece of paper, pag maram na, ask t to a professor you beeve s
competent n that ed. Dont ask your co-barrsters. It mght ony end n a debate
and waste of tme, when no reabe answer s concuded. Remember, tme s
precous durng the pre-bar revew.
Set one day for recreatons aone. It coud re|uvenate your energy and create
hunger for revew the foowng day.
Attend to the needs of your entre beng. Physcay, mentay, emotonay and
sprtuay. Ths w aso hep you avod beng exhausted n the revew.
Take vtamns and take your meas on tme.
BEFORE THE BAR EXAM PROPER
Make sure you have enough and compete seep. A we rested mnd can answer
and artcuate better.
Pray
Revew the matera you personay beeve s a good ast mnute tp for you.
Compose yoursef, your mnd, heart and sprt. Focus on the exam aone and not
on the fear of fang. Stop or reduce your tenson. Tenson s norma, as ong as t
s at a moderate eve. After a, you w aready be takng the bar, no turnng
back. So mght as we do your best. And you can ony perform we f you are n a
composed mnd and heart. (I suggest you cose your eyes. Inhae then exhae as
you count one to ten. It mght hep)
Boost your condence by teng yoursef "Waang (your surname) na d
magang." Or te yoursef "What knd of ceebraton w I do f I top or at east
pass the bar?" at east you mght augh kaht kabado .
DURING THE BAR EXAM PROPER
I suggest that before answerng, formuate on your mnd what w be
paced on your rst, second and thrd paragraphs. The rst paragraph normay
contans a one-sentence drect to the pont answer to the queston. The second
paragraph commony contans ega bass (provson of aw n pont, |ursprudence,
co-reaton of the |ursprudence/provson wth the facts of the case and
appcaton).Thrd paragraph normay contans the concuson. When you are
aready decded of your answer, wrte t accordng to your thoughts. In ths
approach, you w not ony be avodng unnecessary revsons and erasures, you
w aso mantan the ceanness of your booket. Bear n mnd that, a drty
booket s rrtatng to the eyes of the person checkng the same.
Aocate the tme dependng on the number of questons.
Answer each queston one at a tme. Focus on one queston before thnkng or
botherng yoursef of the succeedng questons.
Do not stay n a number for so ong. Leave at east a sheet for a 5pont queston.
Go to the next number f you do not know the answer. If I am not mstaken, more
than one (1) bar canddate had not succeeded because of stockng hmsef /
hersef n an tem he/she does not know the answer of. As a necessary resut,
he/she faed to nsh the exam. As one of my frends tod me, "No matter how
grossy wrong your answer may be, do not ever eave an tem unanswered. Maay
mo, may ponts for the ehort/nk .Kddng asde, a bank sheet w surey get an
automatc 0 pont. So better answer a."
Dont bame yoursef or dont panc f you faed to answer an tem or two. Its
perfecty norma. What s abnorma s f you faed to answer questons that you
know the answer of |ust because you bothered/bamed yoursef so much on the
tems you dont know. In short, f you faed to nsh the exam.
As my professor Atty. Francs Sababan tod us before, "mga bata, avod passng
your booket too eary. The tme aocated for each sub|ect may be too much, but
t must be used wsey to: (1) wrte egby, (2) compose your answers propery, (3)
avod erasures, (4) observe proper margn, and (5) revew your answers. After a
there are no przes for eary nshers."
AFTER A BAR SUBJECT (OR ENTIRE BAR EXAM,
Do not dscuss answers. It s fute because the bookets had aready been
submtted and t coud greaty ahect your performance for the remanng sub|ects.
If your nobe reason on askng about the answers s for you to know the same, I
suggest that you wat unt the exam resuts have been aready reeased. For sef-
preservaton reasons, for sure you w be anxous and fearfu f you woud
dscover that you have ncurred (|ust for exampe) 10 mstakes.
IMPORTANT REMINDER IN ANSWERING
If you are so sure of the answer, you can drecty answer yes or no. But f you are
|ust guessng or not so sure of the answer, you better start ctng aw provsons
and |ursprudence rst.
Logc behnd: If you answer yes or no and t happened to be wrong, chances are,
you w get an automatc ZERO (0) for that tem. The examner mght not read
your answer anymore. Come to thnk of t, t woud be a waste of hs tme readng
expanaton of a wrong answer. Besdes, there are so many bookets to check.
On the other hand, f you cte the aw provsons and |ursprudence rst, even
though your yes or no answer paced n the ast paragraph/sentence s wrong, you
mght get some credt. (The examner mght say, "may aam tong batang to,
nato ang"). Fnay, at east, the examner has read a your answer and
expanaton before gradng you for that tem.
CARDINAL RULES IN TA0ING THE BAR
. Do not forget your test permts, Supreme Court coor coded Identcaton card,
and other pertnent documents/thngs as requred n the etter comng from the SC
aowng you to take the Bar.
. Brng a watch wth you to keep you updated of the tme eft.
. Never be tempted to cheat.
. Keep your focus.
. Carefuy read and comprehend the nstructons and questons.
. Answer one at a tme.
. Answer straght to the pont. Be responsve to the queston. Answer ony what s
beng asked. Though t s temptng to showcase your knowedge, do not over-
eaborate.
. Avod erasures.
. Do not hurry at the expense of substance (and readabty) of your answers.
. Leave a space before startng a new paragraph.
. Revew your answers. Scan your booket before submttng the same. Be sure
you have not eft any queston unanswered.
. Brng extra sgn/fountan pens.
. Observe proper margn.