First time ever since 1901
For the first time since it was conducted in 1901, the Supreme Court is administering the professional licensure examination for lawyers in multiple sites around the country, including here at Silliman University.
“This a historic first. To the Board of Trustees, this is a show of confidence in the capacity of Silliman University to provide the needed human resource pool, physical facilities, and technological infrastructure required for the 2020/21 Bar examinations,” said SU President Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann.
In the 121-year history of the Philippine Bar exams, this is also the first time the examinees will only take four sets of exams instead of eight; first time to take them in only two days instead of four Sundays; first time to download the exam on their laptop; and first time to write their answers on their laptop instead of the exam booklet.
According to Atty. Myles Nicholas Bejar, dean of the SU College of Law, and head of the SU Committee for the Bar Exams, the Court introduced major changes amid the CoViD-19 pandemic.
“First, the exam is now being administered in various areas across the country. For Central Visayas, four universities were selected by the Court to serve as testing centers: Three in Cebu province, namely, University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of San Carlos, and University of Cebu; one in Negros Oriental, Silliman University,” he said.
The Court has traditionally held the Bar exams at the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila.
This time, the Supreme Court selected Silliman University as one of the 31 testing centers for the 2020/21 Bar examinations, held nationwide on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6.
To be selected as a bar testing center, an institution must meet the rigid requirements of the Court based on location, facilities, technical infrastructure, and compliance with CoViD-related protocols.
“Silliman met, if not exceeded, all the requirements. It has a secure and peaceful campus with ample space, fiber optic-equipped buildings complete with CCTV cameras, a robust Internet connection with enterprise-grade hardware, a power plant that can be activated in the event of a brownout, and is fully compliant with the CoViD protocols of the local government unit and of the Inter-Agency Task Force,” Dean Bejar cited.
Based on a recent Resolution of the Supreme Court, the 2020/21 Bar examinees are taking only four sets of exams, instead of the usual eight subjects: Law pertaining to the State and its relationship with its citizens (formerly Political/Labor/Taxation Law), and Criminal Law on Feb. 4; and Law pertaining to private personal, commercial relations (formerly Civil/Commercial Law), and Procedure and professional ethics (formerly Remedial Law, Legal Ethics) on Sunday, Feb. 6.
Dean Bejar said to lessen the danger of examinees getting infected during the pandemic, the Bar exams was reduced to two days, Feb. 4 (Friday) and Feb. 6 (Sunday), from the traditional four Sundays of November.
At the Silliman testing site, 210 graduates from various law schools in the country were registered to take the Bar, exclusively administered by the Supreme Court Bar Examination Committee.
Of the number, 123 are from Negros Oriental, 43 from Zamboanga del Norte, 15 from Bohol, 10 from Siquijor, four from Misamis Occidental, three from Cebu, three from Negros Occidental, two from the National Capital Region, two from Zamboanga del Sur, two from Zamboanga Sibugay, and others from Agusan del Norte and Palawan.
Bejar said the examinees from other provinces are renting apartments and boarding houses around Dumaguete.
The Court had asked the examinees to go on self-quarantine at least two weeks before the exam dates. “Examinees were discouraged from living together in dormitories [as was done previously] to lessen the risk of being infected with CoViD-19,” Bejar said.
Inspite of the restrictions, at least five Bar examinees at the Silliman testing site were not allowed to take the Bar on Feb. 4 after testing positive for CoViD-19.
They were immediately subjected to Department of Health protocols, and admitted to a quarantine facility.
The Court had required all fully-vaccinated examinees and Bar personnel to present negative antigen test results; and for those unvaccinated to present negative RT-PCR results 72 hours before 4 a.m. of Feb. 4, the first day of exams.
Also on the first day of the Bar at the Silliman testing site, around five or six other examinees were reportedly no-shows. No reason was given for their absence,
Dean Bejar said another major change in the Bar exams this year is conducting it digitally using a password-protected software called Examplify.
“To take the exam, examinees are required to bring their own wi-fi-enabled laptops with Examplify installed. On the day of the exam, the questions are downloaded by the examinees, and answered through Examplify. Once they are done, the examinees upload the answers, and receive confirmations (on-screen and email) of their submission,” Dean Bejar said.
He said the exam is touted as secure “since Examplify uses security measures that prevent examinees from accessing the Internet, or opening/using other programs while the exam is going on” or once the exam is downloaded.
The examinees then write their answers not on the traditional Bar exam booklet, but on their personal laptop.
Internet access in the exam room is only available when downloading the exams and uploading their answers.
Another first in the conduct of the 2020/21 Bar exams is the installation of closed-circuit TV cameras in the exam rooms as a proctoring mechanism, in addition to local in-person proctors.
Other stringent requirements from the Supreme Court included the exact specification for the examinees’ desks (instead of the typical armchairs), provision of extra laptops and more extension wires, and requiring even the local food caterers, who were earlier authorized to serve meals in campus, to also show proof of negative CoViD test results.
According to the Supreme Court bulletins, the Court has also cancelled the traditional spectacle of announcing the Bar Topnotchers but instead, will recognize ‘exemplary performance’ to those who get a weighted average score of 85 percent.
In the Bar results, law schools will be ranked based on the number of passers among first-time examinees. Another list will rank law schools based on the number of examinees recognized for exemplary performance.
The Office of the Bar Confidant said shifting the focus away from individual performance to a school’s collective performance would “encourage deep-seated and wide-ranging improvements in legal education”.
Dean Bejar said the hosting of the Bar exams is a significant opportunity for Silliman.
“The Supreme Court bestowed on the University its faith and trust that it can be a reliable partner to such a huge, important, and historical undertaking. This underscores what Silliman has — a peaceful, secure, and beautiful campus, with facilities that are equal, if not better, than what other top Philippine academic institutions have; proficient and capable personnel, a strong reputation for academic excellence, and a mission to develop persons for responsible roles for human and national development, to be sensitive to the realities of change, and to be responsive to the demands of social justice.”
“More than anything,” President McCann for her part said, “being chosen as a testing center is an act of service to the nation, the Supreme Court, and the examinees at this time of the pandemic. Moving forward, this signals to the licensure examination agencies that the University is willing and able to host similar events in the near future.”
Two days before the Bar exam, Silliman announced on its Facebook page that only examinees and personnel authorized by the Supreme Court will be allowed to enter Langheim gate near Katipunan Hall.
Campus residents can use the Laguna gate.
Pedestrian access to the exam areas (Ausejo Hall, Katipunan Hall, and CBA Building) is also prohibited for non-Bar examinees.
A portion of Hibbard Avenue, between Katada St. up to the intersection on Aldecoa Drive, has also been closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Feb. 4 and Sunday, Feb. 6. (Irma Faith Pal)
