SC bans 'Bar Ops' festivities at UST during Bar Exams

To prevent a repeat of the violence during the Bar exams last year, the Supreme Court (SC) has banned festive celebrations that are part of traditional "bar operations" around the venue of the scheduled exams for law graduates next month. "Bar operations, such as setting up of streamers, sendoffs, and cheering squads, are banned within the vicinity of the University of Santo Tomas, the venue of the 2011 Bar examinations during November 6, 13, 20, and 27," the SC said in a statement. Some 6,200 law graduates are expected to take the Bar exam this year at the UST, the new venue of the exams. Court spokesperson Midas Marquez earlier said the transfer of venue had nothing to do with the Sept. 26, 2010 post-Bar exams blast in front of the De La Salle University (DLSU) campus, the former venue of the exams, where about 42 people were injured. One victim, law student Raissa Laurel, lost her legs in the explosion. The ban on Bar Ops festivities was announced by Supreme Court Bar Confidant and Deputy Clerk of Court Atty. Ma. Cristina Layusa in a Bar briefing for superintendents and supervisors of the Bar Exams at the SC Old Session Hall Monday afternoon. "To maintain peace and order during the Bar examinations, she said that the Court will be assisted by uniformed police and plainclothes agents of the National Bureau of Investigation," the court said. Justice Roberto Abad, the 2011 Bar Chairperson, said authorities should ensure that all four streets surrounding UST -- Dapitan Street, P. Noval Street, España Boulevard, and Lacson Avenue -- should remain open to traffic during the four Sundays of November. Support groups Popularly known as Bar Ops, bar operations are a long-standing tradition among school organizations and fraternity groups to demonstrate their support for bar examinees. Part of the tradition includes putting up tents and merry-making on the streets, but its more serious aspect includes helping examinees review for the tough exams, often holed up in hotel rooms during examination days. However, the festivities and partying around the exam venue have become notorious for flare-ups among rival schools. Bar Ops were also banned during the 2008 Bar Exams at the DLSU due to potential public disruption. New exam format This year's exams will also usher in a new exam format, with the introduction of multiple-choice questions. "[The questions are] constructed [so] as to specifically measure the candidate’s knowledge of, and ability to, recall the laws, doctrines, and principles that every new lawyer needs in his practice, and assess the candidate’s understanding of the meaning and significance of those same laws and principles as they apply to specific situations," the court said. Another part of the exam will have essay-type questions that will not be "Bar-subject specific." "One such essay examination will require the candidate to prepare a trial memorandum or a decision based on a documented legal dispute," the court said. "This essay will account for 60 percent of the exam's essay portion. The remaining 40 percent will be covered by an essay which will require the Bar candidate to prepare a written opinion sought by a client concerning a potential legal dispute facing him or her," it added. The final grade is derived from the multiple-choice exam results (60 percent), and from the essay-type exam results (40 percent). A candidate's results in the essay-type exam will still be checked "irrespective" of the results of his or her multiple-choice exam. "In future Bar Examinations, however, the Bar chairperson shall recommend to the court the disqualification of those whose grades in the multiple-choice questions are so low that it would serve no useful purpose to correct their answers in the essay-type examinations," the court added. The schedule of this year's examinations is as follows: