by Atty. Julius Gregory B. Delgado
THE 2021 BAR EXAMINATIONS AND ITS NEW MODALITY
In Bar Bulletin No. 18, Series of 2021, the Chairperson of the 2021 Bar Examinations, Hon. Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, announced that the 2021 Bar Examinations will be held on 07, 14, 21 and 28 November 2021. Unlike the previous Bar Examinations, wherein Bar Candidates were made to answer in Test Booklets, mostly Essay and at some point, with multiple choice questions, the modality of the 2021 Bar Examinations is described as “digitalized, localized and proctored”.
In Bar Bulletin No. 18, Associate Justice Leonen announced that there will be several Testing Sites around the country, not just in Manila and Cebu as announced before. Applications for Testing Sites will be received, evaluated, and certified. Audit Teams, which include personnel from the Office of the Bar Chairperson, Office of the Bar Confidant, Management Information Systems Office, and Security Division, shall be deployed to inspect and these proposed Testing Sites.
Bar Bulletin No. 18 also provides that after these Testing Sites have been determined and announced, the Supreme Court will then announce the Guidelines for the application to take the 2021 Bar Examinations and will start accepting applications. Unlike before wherein a Bar Candidate needs to go to Manila to visit the Office of the Bar Confidant, the application process shall be through an Online Application System. Once the application of a Bar Candidate has been approved, he or she will have the opportunity to download and familiarize himself or herself with the computer software to be used.
Being digitalized, this year’s Bar Examinations will require Bar Candidates to bring their own WiFi-enabled laptops, which must have an integrated display screen, keyboard, and trackpad or pointer device, with sufficient internal battery power. In Bar Bulletin No. 18, the Supreme Court has specified the minimum specifications of the hardware and what specifications are not allowed. Being “proctored”, the Bar Examinations cannot be taken remotely. The Bar Candidates must go to their designated Testing Sites. There will be a proctor who will monitor the examinations and surveillance cameras in place. The hardware of Bar Candidates will be inspected by the proctor before the examinations and each examinee will need to sign an Honor Code against cheating.
Being “digitalized”, there will be no traditional mode of handwritten examinations. This is good news to those who have not-so-good or not-so-readable penmanship, which is one of the reasons of candidates not making through the Roll of Attorneys. Also, the fact that it goes away with the traditional Booklet Type Bar Examinations, being “digitalized” makes it possible for multiple examiners around the country to be part of those who will assess the competency of the Bar Candidates. Under Bar Bulletin No. 18, the Supreme Court calls it “more inclusive” but for me it is simply “democratization” and “decentralization” from Imperial Manila.
Where are we now in terms of preparation? In Bar Bulletin No. 20, Series of 2021, dated 30 March 2021, the Supreme Court extended the call for applications for Local Testing Sites. As of 30 March 2021, the Office of the Bar Chairperson received twenty (20) letters of intent spread throughout the Archipelago. Because of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila and nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal from 29 March to 04 April 2021, the call for applications for Testing Sites was extended until 08 April 2021.
Because of the second wave and recent surge of COVID-19 in different parts of the country, local community quarantines were heightened. Thus, there is a possibility that the accreditation of Testing Sites may not be finished by this month of May and the commencement of the application process to take the 2021 Bar Examinations may be delayed. The country has yet to undergo massive vaccination program. As such, there may be a chance that the 2021 Bar Examinations may be moved again early next year. But moving the same further may no longer be favored by two (2) batches of law graduates who are raring to take the examinations under the new modality.