San Beda grad leads 1,451 Bar examination passers for 2009

(Updated 9:50 p.m.) Reinier Paul Yebra of the San Beda College led the 1,451 passers of the 2009 Bar Exams. This year's passing rate was 24.5 percent of the total 5,903 examinees. Yebra got a score of 84.88. For a complete list of the Bar passers, click here. Coming in at second place was Charlene Mae Tapic, also from San Beda College, with a score of 84.60. John Paul Lim of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) placed third with 84.50. Completing the top ten list are the following, with their corresponding schools and scores: 4. Caroline Lagos of the University of the Philippines (UP), 84.40; 5. Eric David Tan of ADMU, 84.05; 6. Yves-Randolph Gonzalez of ADMU, 83.90; 7. Joan Mae To of ADMU, 83.65; 8. Herminio Bagro III of UP, 83.40; 9. Timothy Joseph Lumauig of ADMU, 83.20; 10. Naealla Rose Bainto, 83.10 of ADMU; and Sheila Abigail Go of ADMU, 83.10. The complete list of names of the passers was released shortly before 10 p.m. Friday and read out by Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, chair of the 2009 Committee on Bar Examinations. Nachura said that the passing rate was lowered from 75 percent to 71 percent, while the disqualification grade in Taxation has been lowered from 49 percent to 45 percent. Dominance Seven of the law graduates who made it to the “Top 10" came from ADMU. Lim said he was “ecstatic" to know that most of the Bar topnotchers came from his school. “I feel ecstatic… The more than three hours of waiting for the results was really bad. The results should have been released earlier, but it’s all good now," Lim told GMANews.TV in a phone interview Friday night. Ateneo also dominated the 2008 Bar exams, with five of its examinees making it to the “Top 10." The topnotcher that year came from the San Sebastian College. In spite of the feat he and his school made in the latest Bar exams, Lim was very well aware that passing it is only the start of bigger challenges. He plans to get himself well prepared for the battles ahead. “It’s not yet over. I plan to go into practice to learn more," he said. Lim and topnotcher Yebra were only two of the six male law graduates who landed in the Top 10. For the past nine years, there were 54 women and 43 men who were included in the top 10 Bar passers. In five of the nine years, there were more women than men who were included in the top ten. These were in 2008 (10 women out of 12 top passers); 2007 (nine women out of 12 top 10 passers); 2006 (six women out of 11 top ten passers); 2002 (six women out of 11 top 10 passers); and in 2000 (seven women out of 11 passers). Oathtaking The high court conducts the Bar exams annually in accordance with Section 5(5), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, which gives the SC the power to “promulgate rules concerning … the admission to the practice of law." The oathtaking of Bar passers will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center on April 28 at 2 p.m. The Bar passers may secure their clearances from the Office of the Bar Confidant during beginning April 5 to April 28, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, the SC said. The 2009 Bar examinations were administered through Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Atty. Ma. Cristina B. Layusa. Traditionally, the Bar exams are held on four consecutive Sundays of September, but the high court had to reset the last exam Sunday in 2009 to October 4 due to widespread flooding caused by tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana). Last year’s examinations also marked the first time the two-examiners-per-subject policy was implemented. Each of the eight Bar exam subjects was divided into two parts, with a designated examiner assigned to a specific scope.

YEAR	TOTAL NO. OF EXAMINEES	TOTAL NO. OF PASSERS	PERCENTAGE
2009	5,903	1,451	24.5
2008	6,364	1,310	20.58%
2007	5,626	1,289	22.91%
2006	6,187	1,893	30.60%
2005	5,607	1,526	27.22%
2004	5,249	1,659	31.61%
2003	5,349	1,108	20.71%
2002	4,659	917	19.68%
2001	3,849	1,266	32.89%
2000	4,698	979	20.84%

—LBG/MDM, GMANews.TV