CJ Sereno: Regionalized bar exams not practical

A REGIONALIZED system of holding the Bar exams will continue to be a dream for aspiring lawyers especially those in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno cited security concerns as the main challenge in implementing this system.

The Supreme Court intended to administer the Bar examinations in one area only to avoid a leakage of the questions, said Sereno on a forum organized by the School of Law and Governance from the University of San Carlos (USC) on Thursday.

“The questions for the Bar exams are chosen an hour before the test is administered (to avoid Bar exams takers from obtaining a leaked copy). That is our concern. … We want to avoid the questions from being leaked before the Bar exam will take place,” she said.

She said that the possibility of transmitting questions over the internet, in the case of having a regionalized examinations, would be an impractical alternative due to loose security protocols found in electronic mediated communications such as the internet.

“There are still a lot of unknowns … even in physical handling of the examinations. Relaying and transmitting them into the internet is an option, but there are still so many things to look into especially the security aspect,” Sereno said.

She, however, welcomed the proposal.

Former Court of Appeals Judge Portia Hormachuelos was the first to propose holding a regionalized Bar examinations in 2014.

The proposal recommended the holding of a regionalized bar examination by designating Metro Manila as the location of the tests for Luzon takers, Cebu City for the Visayas region, and Cagayan de Oro City for barristers in Mindanao.

Hormachuelos also suggested for a pilot testing of the plan in Cebu City.