REACTION PAPER

By: WENILA L. MIRERA

Through the years, the BAR examination for aspiring lawyers is the toughest
examination in the Philippines. It is equally true that it is the only test that is administered by the
Supreme Court of the Philippines, as all others are propelled by the Philippine Regulation
Commission or PRC. Statistics even show that only a trivial percentage of the takers passed
the Bar exams because of the test construction style in the form of paper and pen essay, except
for the bar exam conducted last February 2022 including this year’s Bar exam which are
digitized. Added to the challenge of the takers are the long coverage of the exam which are
codified into eight subjects.

One of the most complex subjects is Criminal law. As a bar candidate for three times, I
found Criminal law as a very tricky one. Mastery of the elements of the crimes is very crucial, as
the absence of one would not qualify into the crime as you perceived it. Careful scrutiny of
every wording of the bar problem is very important. Hence, as I viewed the bar review series
entitled Tidbits in criminal law by Dean Festin as a perfect and complete “baon” of a bar taker in
the examination site in the area of Criminal law. He pinpointed the most or frequently asked
topics in criminal law. Honestly, I kept on replaying the topic on territoriality particularly how
does English Rule and French Rule apply. Through the lecture of Dean Festin, I much
appreciated the principle of impossible crime because of the illustrations or drawings. He
mentioned that check first if the crime is against persons or property. Other than that, it is not an
impossible crime. Moreover, I am deeply enlightened with the difference of mala prohibita as
against mala in se crimes. It is now clearer to me the concept of Article 4 by comparing
intervening cause from proximate cause though the caricatures and examples he made.

As to the stages of execution, I must admit, I find it very difficult to comprehend, and
even if I read and reread it so many times, I can hardly identify if it's attempted or frustrated.
However, Dean explained it so lightly and simply to comprehend. I hope, by this time, if I am
confronted with questions dealing with this topic, I can vividly remember the letters with red inks
he used in his illustrations.

Overall, in the four-hour lecture, Dean Festin had comprehensively covered the most
important topics in Criminal law which form me would be more than enough to supplement the
personal readings of every bar candidate for 2023. I truly appreciate the organizer of the
PALS for having this free bar lecture series especially for an aspiring lawyer like me who is
financially incapable of subscribing to lectures with a fee. This is really a big help for all bar
candidates. I hope then all lectures will not be deleted, so that everyone can have easy access
to it, especially for us working students who only depend on the scarce time in view of a heavy
work schedule.