UP grad tops 2015 Bar, says she really just wanted to pass

MANILA, Philippines – Rachel Angeli Miranda of the University of the Philippines topped last year’s Bar exams as UP placed three others in the top 10, the Supreme Court (SC) announced yesterday.

A total of 1,731 law graduates passed the Bar exams, 26.21 percent of the examinees.

More than 6,600 graduates completed the four-Sunday exams in November last year, according to SC 2015 Bar committee chair and Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro.

Last year’s Bar passers were 18.82 percent more than in 2014 when only 1,126 out of 5,984 passed the exams.

Unlike in the two previous years, the SC did not lower the passing grade of 75 percent.

De Castro said the passers would formally take their oath as new lawyers on June 16 at 2 p.m. at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

Miranda, with an average of 87.4 percent, admitted the results came as a surprise.

“I never expected it. I did my best, I tried my best during the exams, but the result still came as a surprise.

“I couldn’t believe it because what I was really hoping for was just to pass. I just wanted to pass, that’s it,” said Miranda, who also finished her undergraduate degree in UP Diliman as a scholar.

Miranda revealed she and her batch mates barely had five months to review, having graduated in June 2015.

“We were all pretty scared that we didn’t have enough time to prepare for it, but our professors kept telling us that we already had four years in law school to prepare for this, that we shouldn’t be scared of passing, that we will pass. That helped me get through it,” she recalled.

Three other graduates of UP Law made it to the top 10: Jayson Aguilar in third place with an average of 86.75 percent, Giselle Hernandez at sixth with 86.1 percent, and Jedd Brian Hernandez at ninth with 85.8 percent.

The others in the top 10 are: Athena Plaza of University of San Carlos in Cebu in second place with 87.25 percent; Reginald Arceo of Ateneo de Manila University (fourth with 86.70 percent), Mandy Therese Anderson, also of Ateneo (fifth place with 86.15 percent), Darniel Bustamante of San Beda College-Manila at seventh with 85.9 percent; Jecca Jacildo of USC, Soraya Laut of Xavier University and Jericho Tiu of Ateneo, tied at eighth with 85.85 percent; and Ronel Buenaventura of Bulacan State University and Lara Carmela Fernando of San Beda College-Manila, 10th place with 85.75 percent.

The SC also said the examiners for the eight Bar subjects in last year’s exams were Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang for Political Law and Public International Law, SC spokesman Theodore Te for Labor and Social Legislation, Lita Rinda-Jimeno for Civil Law, Court of Tax Appeals Associate Justice Amelia Cotangco-Manalastas for Taxation, Rafael Morales for Mercantile Law, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz for Criminal Law, Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo for Remedial Law and Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega for Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises.

Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. has been named chair of the 2016 Bar exams.

Meanwhile, Te has announced the SC is considering proposals to reform the Bar examinations, including reducing the number of subjects and possible regionalization.

The proposals, which include automating the process of Bar applications and digitization of the lawyers’ list within the framework of the Judiciary’s Enterprise Information Systems Plan (EISP), came from deans of law schools who are regularly consulted by the high court.

“There is, as yet, no final decision by the Court on this matter. However, the chair of the 2016 Bar examinations, Justice Velasco, has already met with the law school deans and any changes will be announced in due course,” he revealed.

In last year’s Bar, the examinees were again required to use transparent or see-through bags “to further ensure the safety and security of the examinees and Bar personnel.”

Additional security measures were put in place since the grenade explosion that marred the September 2010 Bar exams at De La Salle University in Manila. The exams have since been moved to the University of Santo Tomas.

In the 2013 Bar exams, the SC reverted back to its previous format, which was predominantly essay-type. They consist of 80 percent essay-type questions and 20 percent multiple-choice questions. Bar exams had multiple choice format in the two previous years.

The high court also lifted its five-strike rule in Bar examinations, a policy first implemented in 2005 in which examinees who flunked five times were disqualified from further taking the exams. –With Ramon Efren Lazaro