DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 April) – A graduate of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU)-College of Law was among the 14 bar passers recognized for their “excellent performance” in the first-ever localized and online examination conducted early this year.
Ateneo de Davao University. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Based on the results released by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Francis Roel L. Dulay was sixth on the list and the only one from Mindanao among those with “excellent performance.”
The excellent bar passers obtained scores higher than 90%, which comprised 0.17% of the 8,241 passers.
A total of 11,402 graduates took the 2020/2021 bar examinations with a passing rate of 72.28%.
The most recent examinations did not have the usual 10 topnotchers, one of the reforms introduced to recalibrate the grading system “to avoid unnecessary competition for the artificial top ten, recognizing that the examinations are not a competition,” according to Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, bar chairperson for 2020/2021.
“The system of pass, exemplary pass, and excellent pass without any ranking already recognizes effort without encouraging needless competition among individuals,” Leonen added.
Out of 65 bar takers from ADDU-College of Law, 61 candidates passed, obtaining a passing rate of 96.49%.
Out of the 761 exemplary passers, 22 came from ADDU and four from Jose Maria College of Davao City with scores in the range of 85% to 90%.
The new law school Jose Maria College of Davao City and the re-established college of law of Rizal Memorial Colleges, also of this city, made remarkable performance in the bar examinations after obtaining a passing rate of 100%.
Leonen noted that the bar examinations for 2020 and 2021 “cannot be compared with any past bar examinations” because of the “several waves of the COVID-19 pandemic” and a super typhoon that battered the Visayas region.
He said they ended up conducting “the first ever digitalized and localized bar examinations,” mobilizing 7,000 personnel “to conduct the examination efficiently in 29 local testing sites across 22 local government units.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
