PHILIPPINE BAR EXAM TRIVIA

Some interesting Philippine Bar trivia

The first ever bar exams was held in 1901, with 11 examinees taking the test. Acing it
was former President Manuel Roxas.

The 2001 Bar Exams had the highest ever passing rate with 1,266 out of the 3,849 total
examinees making the grade or passing gate of almost 32.89 percent.

The 1999 Bar Exams can be considered as the most deadly for law examinees as it only
produced 660 lawyers or a passing rate of only 16.59 percent.

The 2007 Bar Exams would have been the all time low in terms of passing had not its
chairman, Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, lowered the passing rate to 70 percent..

The reduction in the passing rate was ordered by Justice Azcuna as only 5 percent (only
around 300) of the 5,626 who took the 2007 Bar Exams got the passing grade of 75
percent.

Thus the SC adjusted the standard to 70 percent and the disqualification rate in 3 subjects
(civil, labor and criminal law) from 50 to 45 percent thus resulting in a 22.91 passing rate
or survival of 1,289 lawyer examinees.

This reduction in the passing grade is highly unusual as it only happened once in the 1981
Bar Exams when the passing grade was lowered to 72.5 percent

Prior to 1982, the passing mark jumped unpredictably from year to year: 69.45 percent in
1946; 69 in 1947; 70 in 1948, 1963, 1972 and 1974; 71 in 1961; 71.5 in 1953, 1964 and
1965; 72 in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1967; 72.5 in 1954, 1962 and 1981; 73 in 1950,
1956, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1978 and 1980; 73.5 in 1955 and 1979; 74 in 1949, 1951,
1952, 1966, 1971, 1973 and 1977; and 74.5 in 1976.

In 1954, the SC lowered the passing grade to 72.5 percent, even if the passing percentage
was already at its highest at 75.17 percent.

In 1999, moves to lower the passing grade to 74 percent failed, after Justice Fidel
Purisima, bar committee chairman, failed to disclose that his nephew took the
examination. He was censured and his honoraria was reduced to half.

High passing rates marked the post World War II years with grades ranging from 56 to 72
percent.

But that state of things was not to last long as Associate Justice J.B.L. Reyes, a noted
scholar, was appointed Chairman of the 1955 Bar Examinations in which the passing rate
for that year dropped dramatically to 26.8 percent with a mortality rate of 73.2 percent.
That ratio has been invariably maintained in the past 52 years or more.

The only two bar examinees to top the bar exams without graduating from any Philippine
law school were former senator Jose Diokno, who tied for first place in the 1945 Bar with
former senator Jovito Salonga, and retired Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice
Carolina C. Grio-Aquino, who chaired the three-man investigating panel looking into
the Court of Appeals (CA) impropriety and bribery controversy. She who was the first
placer in the 1950 Bar Exams.

The 2005 Bar exams marked the first time that the five-strike rule was enforced. The
five-strike rule limits to five the maximum number of times a candidate may take the
examinations.

It was also this year that the three-failure rule was also implemented which requires a
three time flunker to retake fourth year review classes and pass before retaking the bar
exams.

Among all bar topnotchers, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Florenz D. Regalado
holds the highest grade of 96.7 percent in 1954. Former senator Tecla San Andres-Ziga
became the first woman to top the bar with a score of 89.4 percent in 1930.

The Philippine President who got the highest score as a topnotcher was Ferdinand Marcos
with 92.35 percent average in 1939.

In 1945, Jovito Salonga and Jose W. Diokno tied the highest score of 95.3 percent. The
only other instance of a tie at first place of the bar exams was when Edwin Enrile
(salutatorian of his Ateneo Law School class) and Florin Hilbay (an honor student of the
UP College of Law) both garnered the same score in 1999.

Ateneo Law School's Mercedita L. Ona, got the lowest passing grade of 83.55% in 2007,
which erased the prior record of 84.10 percent, obtained by Adolfo Brillantes of Escuela
de Derecho de Manila (now Manila Law College Foundation) in 1920.

No bar examinee has ever reached a 100 percent general average, but several bar
examinees have garnered perfect and near-perfect grades in specific bar subjects.

In 1949, Anacleto C. Magaser of the Philippine Law School earned 100% in Mercantile
Law, and placed 1st in the bar exams of that year. His average of 95.85% broke all prior
records before it was bested by Florenz Regalado in 1954.

In 1953, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile of the University of the Philippines College of Law
earned 100 percent in Taxation Law and placed 11th in the bar exams of that year.

In 1955, incumbent Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Raul Gonzalez of the

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law earned 99 percent in Remedial Law and
95 percent in International Law. However, he did not make it to the top 10.
In 1997, Maria Celia H. Fernandez of the University of the Philippines College of Law
earned 100 percent in Legal Ethics and emerged as the year's bar topnotcher.

In 2001, Rodolfo Ma. A. Ponferrada, that year's valedictorian of the University of the
Philippines College of Law obtained perfect scores of 100 percent in Remedial Law, the
highest weighted of the bar subjects, as well as Criminal Law. The difference (3.75
percent) between his final bar examination score (93.80 percent) and that of the second-
placer, Jesus Paolo U. Protacio (90.05 percent), that year's valedictorian of the Ateneo de
Manila Law School, is the highest of all time. That year's valedictorian of the San Beda
College of Law, Adonis V. Gabriel, placed 8th (88.25 percent). This 3.75 percent
difference eclipsed the previous highest difference of 2.10 percent registered in 1966
when Roberto V. San Jose (valedictorian of the UP College of Law) garnered a grade of
90.6 percent versus the 88.5 percent of the tied second placers, Ruben F. Balane
(salutatorian of the UP College of Law) and Pablo S. Trillana III (valedictorian of the San
Beda College of Law).

In 2005, Gladys V. Gervacio of the University of Perpetual Help-Rizal earned 100

percent in two bar subjects -- Legal Ethics and Labor Law. She placed 6th in the bar
exams of that year.

All throughout the bar exams history, only 12 law schools managed to produce 1st placers
in the bar examinations.

The University of the Philippines College of Law has the most number of bar topnotchers
with 49 topping the exam, followed by Ateneo de Manila Law School with 19, Philippine
Law School and San Beda College of Law with 6, University of Manila College of Law
with 4 bar, Far Eastern University Institute of Law and University of Santo Tomas
Faculty of Civil Law with 3 bar, University of the Cordilleras (formerly Baguio Colleges
Foundation) College of Law and Manuel L. Quezon University College of Law with 2,
Manila Law College Foundation (formerly Escuela de Derecho de Manila), Divine Word
College and the University of the East College of Law with one bar topnotcher each.
MANILA, Philippines The Philippine Senate celebrates its centennial anniversary on
Sunday, October 16, marking a long history from its roots as a legislative set-up under
American rule.

With the enactment of the Jones Law, the Philippine Legislature was inaugurated on
October 16, 1916, establishing what is now known as the Senate and the House of
Representatives. (IN PHOTOS: Philippine Senate turns 100)

Throughout its long history, the institution weathered war and political storms.

Last year, former President Benigno Aquino III signed Proclamation No. 1091, s. 2015,
declaring October 2015 to October 2016 as the Centennial Year of the Senate of the
Philippines.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Senate, Rappler compiles interesting tidbits and
trivia on this political institution and the men and women who have served under its
august halls.

The firsts

First Muslim senator: Hadji Butu Abdul Baqui, representing the 12th senatorial
district of Mindanao and Sulu from 1916 to 1919, and from 1922 to 1931. In the
Senate, he pushed for more appropriations for the construction of schools,
hospitals, roads, and bridges in Mindanao and Sulu.

First woman senator: Geronima Tomelden-Pecson, who served from 1947 to

1953. She headed the Senate Committees of Education, Health, Public Welfare,
and the Joint Congressional Committee on Education. She was known for her
work on laws on education, such as the Free and Compulsory Education Act and
the Vocational Education Act.

First Filipina senator to be re-elected: Eva Estrada Kalaw, who chaired the Senate
committee on games, amusements and tourism, and national minorities. She was
senator from 1965 to 1972.

First Senate President: Manuel L. Quezon, who went on to become the first
president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. He was the second Philippine
president after Emilio Aguinaldo.

First actor to become senator: Rogelio de la Rosa, a popular matinee idol and
multi-awarded actor. De la Rosa entered politics with a successful bid for the
Senate in 1957.

 Age and longevity

Oldest living former senator: Helena Zoila Benitez was 102 years old when she
died in 2016. She served from 1967 to 1972.
Oldest while in office: Juan Ponce Enrile was 92 years old when his term ended in
2016.
Youngest elected to office: Benigno Aquino Sr was 33 years old upon his election
in 1928. His son, Benigno Aquino Jr, was also among the youngest elected
senators; he was 35 when he assumed office in 1967.
Longest-serving senator: Lorenzo Taada served for 4 terms from 1947 to 1971,
for a total of 24 years.

How many senators eventually became president?

Of the Philippines 16 presidents so far, 10 were former senators:

1. Manuel L. Quezon, 2nd President and first president of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines
2. Jose P. Laurel, 3rd president, during the Japanese occupation of Manila
3. Sergio Osmea, 4th president
4. Manuel Roxas, 5th president
5. Elpidio Quirino, 6th president
6. Carlos P. Garcia, 8th president
7. Ferdinand E. Marcos, 10th president
8. Joseph Ejercito Estrada, 13th president
9. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 14th president
10. Benigno Aquino III, 15th president

Abolished, shuttered, or not convened

OCKED. Senators Doy Laurel, Eva Estrada Kalaw,

amon Mitra, Gerry Roxas, and Jovito Salonga in
73, outside the padlocked Senate Session Hall.
oto from Doy Laurel by Celia Diaz-
urel, from the Official Gazette

There were two periods when the Senate was abolished, shuttered, or not able to convene:
1935 to 1945 - The 1935 Constitution provided for the shift to a unicameral Congress,
then known as the National Assembly. A constitutional amendment in 1940 brought back
the Senate and the House of Representatives, members of which were determined in the
November 1941 elections.
However, in December 1941, Japanese forces started occupying the country during World
War II. As a result, the 1941 poll winners were not able to convene until June 1945.
During the Japanese occupation, the government's legislative arm was the unicameral
National Assembly, which held sessions from 1943 to 1944.

1972 to 1987 - Soon after the declaration of Martial Law, both houses of Congress were
abolished. It was replaced by the appointed Batasang Bayan (1976-78), then the elected
unicameral Interim Batasang Pambansa (1978-84) and the Regular Batasang Pambansa
(1984-86). The current bicameral set-up Senate and House of Representatives was
restored in the 1987 Constitution.

The Senates homes

Senators currently hold office at the GSIS Building in Pasay City, the institutions home
since May 1997. Prior to this, the Philippine Senate has called other locations its home:

1. The Goldenberg Mansion, where the inaugural session of the Senate was held
2. The Intendencia Building in Intramuros, occupied by the Senate from 1916 to
1926
3. Legislative Building, which was initially intended to become the Philippine
Library
4. Temporary Congress Building, a school house along Lepanto St in Manila, after
the Japanese occupation and the subsequent liberation of the Philippines left the
Legislative Building in ruins
5. Manila City Hall, from 1947 to 1948
6. Legislative Building, which was rebuilt after the war and renamed Congress
Republic of the Philippines
7. Legislative Building, this time renamed Executive House with the abolition of
Congress when martial law was declared

http://www.knowledgepublisher.com/article-424.html