THE ALMOST 4,000 passers of the 2022 bar exams took their oath on Tuesday before Supreme Court associate justices and signed their names in the official list of Philippine lawyers.
“A good lawyer must strive to have a delicate medley of virtue and skills,” Associate Justice and 2022 bar chairperson Benjamin S. Caguioa said at the ceremony held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City streamed live on YouTube.
“Lawyers should be conscious that laws are weapons as much as they are tools and must have a recognition that people on the opposite side of the court are people with stories too.”
Last year’s bar exams had a passing rate of 43.47% with 3,992 passers out of 9,183 examinees.
The 2020/21 bar was the first to be conducted digitally and with multiple testing sites nationwide.
The tribunal had moved this year’s exams to September, earlier than the usual November to allow for an earlier release of results.
Associate Justice and 2023 bar exams chairperson Ramon Paul L. Hernando said this would help passers seek employment earlier.
Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo had said the bar exams would continue the digital format to take full advantage of new technology. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
