Panel wants stricter regulations for post-Bar exams tradition

The Supreme Court-formed panel investigating the grenade attack that marred the last day of the Bar examinations last September has recommended the imposition of stricter measures for the conduct of the traditional Salubong during the yearly exams. In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Renato Corona last October 22, committee head Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr. said the panel recommended that law schools regulate the conduct of the Salubong, the traditional revelries where well-wishers, law students, and relatives greet examinees after taking the test. The Supreme Court en banc (or full court) will act on the committee's recommendations. The grenade-throwing incident, which injured about 47 people, happened during the Salubong last September 26 outside the De La Salle University campus in Manila, where the Bar examinations were being held on four Sundays during September since 2003. The committee also recommended that the Salubong "will no longer be held within the Bar exams premises from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on any day of the exams, particularly on the last day." "The premises of the subsequent Bar examinations be firmly secured by putting up a 200-meter perimeter fence within the vicinity of the examinations from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.," it said. The committee likewise said deans of law schools should have "command responsibility" for their students' possible violations of existing guidelines governing the conduct of the Bar examinations. Jose Midas Marquez, court administrator and spokesman, clarified that the committee did not recommend the removal of the Salubong itself. "It would just be better if we regulate," he said at a news briefing. Fraternities' truce In a copy of the committee's report distributed to media, committee member Charlotte Silungan also recommended that "there must be a truce among fraternities to temporarily stop or suspend hostilities through written agreement." Silungan, one of the officers of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines, made the recommendation even if it has not yet been firmly established that the post-Bar exams violence was caused by warring fraternities. Anthony Leal Nepomunceno, a member of the Alpha Phi Beta fraternity and a suspect in the incident, surrendered to authorities last Wednesday, October 27, but denied being the grenade-thrower. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has already filed a criminal complaint against Nepomuceno so he can be charged with multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said Nepomuceno's two companions have already been identified as his APO fraternity brothers. The APO leadership, however, dared De Lima and the NBI to disclose the names so the fraternity can act on it. - KBK, GMANews.TV