MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - The Supreme Court has announced that 1,913 (31.9%) of 5,990 examinees passed the 2011 Bar exams, the 2nd highest passing rate this millennium.
The highest was in 2001 with a 32.89% passing rate.
The lowest was in 2002 with only 19.68%.
Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said: "The large part of that can be explained by the reforms undertaken in the 2011 Bar Exams."
Marquez said the results are being audited manually and will be announced at 2 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday.
The Chairperson of the 2011 Bar Exams is Justice Roberto Abad who is a former Dean of the University of Sto. Tomas law school.
The Bar examiners are:
-Court of Appeals Justice and Prof. Amy Lazaro-Javier for Political Law
-author and Prof. Atty. Cesario Alvero Azucena, Jr. for Labor Law
-author and former Justice Usec. Dean Ernesto Pineda for Civil Law
-author and Prof. Abelardo Domondon for Taxation
-Court of Appeals Justice and Prof. Ramon Paul Hernando for Mercantile Law
-Sandiganbayan Justice and Prof. Maria Cristina Cornejo for Criminal Law
-former Prof. and practitioner Virgilio Manguera for Remedial Law
-MCLE lecturer and Prof. Edwin Carillo for Legal Ethics
The 2011 Bar Exams instituted, for the first time, multiple-type questions. This constituted 60% of the exams; the remaining 40% constituted essay.