On ‘legends of the bar’ and ensuring respectability for the law profession

The article by former chief justice (CJ) Artemio V. Panganiban on the Bar exam and its legends is very timely (“The bar exam and the legends of the bar,” With Due Respect, 9/16/2024). We have lawyers being investigated for their Philippine offshore gaming operators involvement, unethical ones giving false testimony, and even our Vice President, a lawyer, putting herself above the law.

I’m not a lawyer, just a regular citizen who’s not aware of the rules regulating Bar exams and the consequences for failing it.

CJ Panganiban stated that from 1965-1981, less than 2,000 took the Bar exam (when he took his, there were 4,178 examinees with 1,667 passers). This time around, 10,483 showed up. The passing rate ranged from the lowest in 1999 at 16.59 percent, with the highest at 72.28 percent. The most numerous examinees were in 2021 (11,402).

What caused the increase in the number of law students? Could it be because of us now having more law schools, the easier admission requirements unlike in medicine and science courses, and the relatively lower cost compared to medical school? The law profession is also very lucrative so it attracts more students, or there may be a lot of young men and women who just love the law.

There are also certain rules that if some schools have a dismal passing rate, as in 1999’s 16.59 percent, those schools will be put on probation and ultimately closed if there is no improvement. I am not an educator or a statistician but if there are more failures than successful candidates, there may be problems with the teachers, the teaching methods, the selection of students, and the examination itself: Measures should be done to correct them. I am also curious whether there is a limit on how many times a law graduate can take the Bar exam.

I liked it when CJ Panganiban said that he “disagree[s] with this wholesale entry to the doors of the legal profession,” and that the “Supreme Court should still be wary and allow only the most qualified” As he described it, “Our profession is the first key to the justice system.”

Lawyering is still one of the most respected professions so we have to be sure that members of the bar maintain their respectability. The titans of Philippine law, among them the late senators Jose Diokno and Jovito Salonga, and former CJ Claudio Teehankee whom CJ Panganiban idealized, were not only bar topnotchers but STATESMEN, who were knowledgeable in the law and in serving the government. For me, statesmanship is equal to love of country.