MANILA — The 2022 Bar Exams will push through this November despite calls for the Supreme Court to postpone the test in light of the destruction caused by tropical storm Paeng.

“Per SC Spokesperson, Atty. Brian Hosaka: The 2022 Bar Exams will proceed on November 9, 13, 16, and 20 as originally scheduled and announced in Bar Bulletin No. 6, S. 2022,” the Supreme Court Public Information Office tweeted Tuesday.

Bar Bulletin No. 6 issued on Aug. 24 set the examination dates for the annual qualifying exams for lawyers for this year.

The exams will be held in 14 local testing centers and like the 2020/21 Bar Exams, it will be digitalized with examinees using their own devices. They will be monitored by in-person proctors and closed-circuit television cameras.

Nearly 10,000 Bar examinees are expected to take the exams, according to data from SCPIO.

“The latest information I received last week is that there are 9,916 expected examinees for the 2022 Bar Exams to be held on November 9, 13, 16, and 20. There were originally 10,075 approved applicants for the Bar exams this year,” Hosaka said.

Based on the figures, 159 chose not to proceed.

“I don’t know the reasons for their withdrawal to take the 2022 Bar Exams. Yes, I believe a formal notice would have to be sent by them to the Office of the Bar Confidant,” Hosaka said.

POSTPONEMENT CALLS

Calls for the postponement of the Bar Exams surfaced on social media after tropical storm Paeng spawned landslides and flash floods, which left a trail of destruction across the country.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from the storm has climbed to 110, while around 2.4 million people were affected.

• Paeng leaves 110 dead, some 2.4 million affected

The calamity did not spare Bar takers on the last stretch of their months-long preparations for the licensure test, some of whom shared images on Twitter calling attention to their plight.

They asked the high court to delay the conduct of the exams to allow everyone to catch up.

One of them is “Julie,” real name and location withheld upon request, who had to wade through thigh-high flood on Saturday with her 1-year-old child to get to a safer area.

"Natulog kami wala pong baha. Tapos iyon nga po 12 something nagising ako, may rumaragasang tubig. At pagtingin ko sa floor namin, baha na malapit na sa tuhod. So imagine iyong bilis ng pagtaas,” she said.

(There were no floods when we slept. The water was already raging when I woke up at at around 12. When I saw our floor, the flood has already reached our knees. That was how fast it rose.)

Her house had been flooded, her furniture and appliances soaked in water, her bed and clothes were not spared.

She spent the past few days cleaning and washing clothes. She said it could take a month before they could fully clean the house and dry the flooded furniture.

There is no time to study, she told ABS-CBN News on Monday.

“Ang hirap-hirap kapag natuloy iyong Bar Exams. Hindi ko alam kung paano ako mag-aaral, kung ano isasagot ko. Parang nakalimutan ko na lahat ng inaral ko,” Julie said.

(It's very difficult to study if the Bar Exams push through. I do not know how I will study, what I will answer. It's as if I've forgotten everything I reviewed.)

“Hindi ko alam kung paano magsimula magreview. Lahat ng notes and reviewers ko nabasa. Imagine, iyong ilang lectures na pinakinggan ko tapos iyong nagtake down notes ako para iyon na lang kako babasahin ko sa pre-week pero wala na lahat. Parang magbaback to zero ako,” she added.

(I do not know how I will review. All my notes were soaked. Imagine how many lecture I listened to, I took down notes so I could read them in the week before the exams, but they're all gone. I would go back to zero.)

Julie had hoped the Supreme Court would consider their plight. She said a one-month postponement would have bee enough to recover from the calamity.

“Ayon po, nakikiusap po sana ako na i-consider po ng SC iyong mga affected ng baha. Alam ko na mayroon siguro mas worse pa sa sitwasyon ko. Hindi natin alam, baka iyong iba isa pa sa namatayan, hindi natin alam,” she said.

“Umaasa po ako na mapakinggan ng Bar chair iyong plea namin. Sana po bigyan kami ng sapat na panahon para mag-recover muna sa sakunang ito dahil hindi po madali sobrang hirap po talaga. Ang hirap na nga po ng Bar Exam ng hindi ka binaha, what more pa po kaming mga binaha or affected ng bagyo?,” she asked.

(I am requesting that the SC consider everyone affected by the flood. I know others may be in a worse situation. Others may have died, we don't know. I hope that the Bar chair listens to our plea. I hope you would give us enough time to recover from this calamity. It's hard enough to take the Bar Exam without being affected by floods, how much more for us who were hit by the storm?)

Supreme Court Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa is this year’s Bar Exams chair.

The Supreme Court moved the 2020/21 Bar Exams a couple of times due to the threat of COVID-19 and destruction caused by typhoon Odette.

Asked about calls for postponement of the Bar Exams, Hosaka said Monday they have yet to confirm if a petition or request had been filed to move the exams to a later date.

“I think it would be premature to say that the OBC has received a formal request or petition on this considering the official holidays. I would have to wait for Nov. 2 to be able to respond to your question,” he said.

Oct. 31, Monday, and November 1, Tuesday, are holidays.

But on Tuesday, Hosaka came out with an announcement that the exams would proceed as scheduled.

Julie could only say in exasperation: “Bakit po ganoon, wala pa namang November 2?”

(Why did that happen, when it's not even Nov. 2 yet?)

On Twitter, Bar examinees pleaded for compassion using the hashtag #MoveThatBar2022.

“Let us be the batch that celebrates for every sibs win, yet, there when a sib falls; Let us be known to be the batch the conquered storms without leaving anyone behind,” one Bar examinee tweeted.

“No one should be left behind,” another said.