New lawyers urged: Remain ‘a true servant of the law’
The journey to becoming the topnotcher of the 2025 bar examinations was not a “pretty victory” for Jhenroniel Rhey Sanchez. It was marked by “failures, missteps, and errors”—but also by his decision to stand up every time and start over again.
As an undergraduate electrical engineering student at the University of the Philippines (UP), Sanchez failed two subjects. He also struggled to secure job offers, despite the perceived advantage of graduating from the country’s premier state university.
During the pandemic, electrical engineering opportunities that could accommodate a working law student were scarce. Even in law school, Sanchez faced setbacks, failing his civil procedure class.
“There are so many, many, examples that intelligence [alone] isn’t going to carry you through,” he said in an interview conducted by the UP Law Complex Information and Publication Division for an episode of its online series “Conversations in a Grand Manner.”
But Sanchez ultimately described his experience as proof that “it’s about putting in the work, the effort, and suffering through failure and still being able to recover and do it all over again.”
Today, he and more than 5,000 other successful bar passers are set to take their official oath and sign the Roll of Attorneys, formally marking the start of their journey as officers of the court.
Regionalized, digitalized format
The Supreme Court has reserved the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, the country’s largest indoor venue, for the oathtaking and signing ceremony, as announced by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, chair of the 2025 bar examinations.
“We hope to meet you, your families, your parents, your special others, your loved ones, and your support systems as we welcome you into the legal profession. And finally, call you by the title you have worked tirelessly for. Attorneys of the Republic of the Philippines,” she said during the announcement of the bar results on Jan. 7.
Of the 11,420 qualified examinees, 5,594 passed the examinations, posting a passing rate of 48.98 percent.
The bar exams were held on Sept. 7, 10, and 14, 2025, across 14 local testing centers nationwide, adopting the regionalized and digitalized format first introduced during the pandemic.
Lazaro-Javier, who affectionately referred to the examinees as her “bar babies,” said the exams should not be seen as “the measure of our dignity or integrity as a person.”
“It is a qualifying exam, and that’s it,” she stressed. “It is something that we should not be scared about, and (something) they have prepared for for four years or five years, including their review.”
Uniform guidelines were set for bar examiners in grading answers, with each response evaluated using a rubric focused on accuracy, clarity, conciseness, logic, and grammar.
Even what Lazaro-Javier described as the “magical question” on the Strategic Plans for Judicial Innovations (SPJI)—the Supreme Court’s blueprint for real-time, responsive justice—was graded under the same standard.
The specific test item asked for the guiding principles and expected outcomes of the SPJI that led to the adoption of rules governing the electronic submission of pleadings and other court filings.
“Question No. 20 was meant to prepare the examinees to be proactive members of the legal profession. After all, every lawyer plays an active role in bringing the various programs and initiatives under the SPJI to life,” Lazaro-Javier said.
The passing grade for the 2025 bar examinations remained at 75 percent and was not adjusted, unlike in the previous bar.
Former students
Like Sanchez, 2025 bar exam second placer Spinel Declaro of the University of Santo Tomas also went through setbacks, according to Lazaro-Javier.
Declaro was the associate justice’s former student who took the bar exams about 12 years ago but failed and decided not to retake the exam, choosing instead to focus on his business.
“But fate would have it that we meet again … And when (that happened), I really convinced him to try again. ‘Try again, please,’ I almost pleaded with him. I assured him that it would be a success. And he landed number two. Imagine that,” Lazaro-Javier said.
Another former student, Artemio Bermido, took the bar exams several times before deciding he no longer wanted to retake it.
Lazaro-Javier later met Bermido and convinced him to sit for the examinations once more. While reviewing, Bermido’s wife contracted an illness, prompting the justice to call and encourage him not to lose heart.
“Do not allow this to discourage you. With more reason you should fight for it. You should become a lawyer. Just concentrate on the medication for your wife. But at the same time, you have to make a resolute decision that you will proceed and you will show up. And he did it,” she said.
Temporary setback
These stories, Lazaro-Javier said, show that failure is only a temporary setback and should not define a person.
In her message after the announcement of the bar results, she reminded the passers to accept the blessing of having hurdled the bar with “utmost humility,” and urged them “not to lose the idealism of a true servant of law.”
She also addressed those who did not pass: “For my bar babies who didn’t make it, you may grieve, you may cry out even loud. But tomorrow, you have to pick up the pieces and start anew. Never believe that you’re a failure. Never believe that you are hopeless.”
The 2026 bar examinations, scheduled for Sept. 6, 9, and 13 this year, will be chaired by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan.
The application period for the 2026 bar exams began on Jan. 8 and will end on March 9.
