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A, Pl0ltPPtNES I WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2019

ffi Two-examiner Bar exams PolicY

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fte imposition refonns ffilffi
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established law
.schools
open up nelv semonsJusl
the Bar exans and are thus willing tn,r
accept I smaller paycheck.
We could haYe utilized our o.tvn
versions of RFID in the Bar exams bY,
il"fiil;;lr"pG 6;lh"'1"
in the Philippine Bar 'Wlil- .,,: to accommodate more who are more efricient in truing. $b.r,
Justice exams. Lav prartftioners, k{:"- law studenrs (only for could harc opened up new toll exits
Bemabe is
absolutely
conect in
noting the
continued,
law studenG and court

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the sc reacted to this

notable trend..By wav -
by putturg up satellite Bar exam t€st
cente$ in the Visayas and Mindanao.
And once ve cut the six months t?itingm
time to three months. then we ean try
having tvrc Bar exams per year just like^
how they do it in the Unit€d Stat€s.
interest of proposals for the Bar of analogy, let's use a In any case, the writing's now on
the public exams to be in a "Pass ol Fail" tollgate bottleneck at an expressway: the wall and we have no choice bubq
in entering format and whetier topnotchers will Every Holy Week in the Philippines, to face l,he music. This Year's Bar.
be revealed at all, These served a certain expressway experiences candidates have to be readY for a
the Legal
professior4 as talking points in the legal the worst tra,ffic at its tollgate just potenualF longer o<an ard hope tna&J
community and the debate served because of the volume of vehicles. the rcsults lfi0uld come out earlier.
witk the as an oppodunity for us to explore To counter this, the expressway Forgive me. I arn just sounding.
continueil different what-ifs in a profession used operator puts up extra toll cashiers, off, since I was part of the 2009 Bar
rise of to being haditional and sticking with around double the original number, exams where the tno+xaminer rule
la.wyers in the status quo. the prospect of change just to allow_morE cars to enter. was frrst implemented. It was quitg,,
prominent in the adminisfrration of the country's this obviously is a stopgap measure, diffrcult for us since we did find our
positions most gueling exam piqued tlte senses but it has been going on'for years exam to bo quite long, coupled with
and curiosity of those within and now and traffic remains ihe same. the onslaught of tlThoon 'ondoyn
in the right on ihe fouth Sunday, causing its
outside the legal industry More forward-minded people would
Phi.lippines, An this went downthe dain when rather come up with a solution using postponement to a frfth Sunday. Wit\,
,.ihe High Court announced it will tschnologr to ease the tmfric, such God's mercy, I passed this exan bY
r.\ as corvincing motorists to instal the the skin of my teeth, though Iny good ^'
reyeft back to the twos(arniner policy
Pt\cr€^ Ll'i used previously in 2009 and 2010. more efficient RFID for electronic toll ft iend Ttanspodation Undersecretary
Effe ctively, the SC doubled-down collection to mal(e tfte flow of traffrc Reiner Yebra didn't break a sweatrv
on the cuuent protracted system more seamless. A better longterm since he placed fust in our Bar exam.
of the Bar exams - the exact same solution is the construction of more And for the record, the two-examiner
system critiqued by CJ Bersamin - by toll exits so that vehicles haYe more rule in 2009 did not shorten the
getting twice the number of examiners, ways to avoid the bottlen€cks. waiting period at all - it even got
making the iests potentially doubly Ihc stme aDDlles delayed further.
longer a.nd inoeashg the fees to be wittr ttre Philippine J( My tip for this year's Bar et(aminees .
paid by ihe examiner. After all t}le Bar exams, We all Once year is to prepare extra, because you
build-up, we just ended up with the know that alter Lhe'.f,e cut the will have l,o deal with two differentzr
sa,me old exam, but on steroids. tests in November, it six months mindsets in each subject. To illustrate'
As stated in ihe SC's BM 1161, takes six months to uo;ting in Political Law, one examiner may be.r
or the resolution approving the said check, tabulate, Yettfy fime to an expefi in Election Law, while the,,,
change, Bar chairpe$on Associate and release the results tr21ss other h Intemational Lavi', 80 these are
Justi€e Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, ' altogether. It is iust a |,rontta. two very specialized categories under
in her letter dated 11 January 2019 process tiat we learned th"n ui a single subiect. The best thing to d0,
recommended the readoption of the to lile ytdth. LN fo\ can try of coulse, is to study haxd and to pray.,,
twle(aminer policy citing the need to anO governmen\ haoino two for sirength. As fur the candidates of
promote operational efriciency in light oftlces now ,re \s"d Bo, oio , the foloftng yea.rs, let us hoPe somd"
of the notable increase of admitted .to hirinP wnal we call change, friendly to the examinees,
candidates in recent y€als. Justice
_Inderhers"-arerTn'. Def uaar be irnpienentert for the sake (and^
Bemabe is absolureS conect in noting that exists onlv in tne Jlst
ttF suvival) of our legal profession thai-
h!'0..t?"a appears to be stil stuck in the baby
{he continued interest ofthe publie in Phjiippines - tirese ar
entering the legal profession, with the individuals *ho iusX " do ln boomer era.
continued rise of larTers in prominenl, took the Bar brt- zre the Anitud
posiiions in ihe Philippines. More and waiting for their fate in Std'e€' Enaih diften, ddenB@ dqjestslegal comt'