Senate President Franklin Drilon said he will ask the Supreme Court to decentralize the bar exams to other parts in the country.
Speaking to reporters in Cebu yesterday, Drilon said he supports the clamor of law school deans who want to have the bar examinations in the regions and not just in Manila.
“I can sponsor a (Senate) resolution, urging the Supreme Court to hold the bar examinations in three sites in the country: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” he said in a press conference at the Cebu Country Club in barangay Banilad, Cebu City.
Drilon was in Cebu yesterday to address graduates of the University of Cebu (UC) and to meet the school’s new lawyers, including Manuel Elijah Sarausad who ranked sixth in last year’s bar exams.
Though the Rules of Court mandate that the bar exams be held in Manila, the Senate president said it can still be rectified. “The Supreme Court can amend the rules. They have the sole prerogative to do that,” Drilon said.
They said decentralizing the Bar Exams would mean lesser expenses for bar examinees from the provinces who have to spend for their fare and lodging when they take the bar exams in Manila.
UC College of Law Dean Baldomero Estenzo has been vocal about the need to hold the Bar Exams outside Manila.
“Going to Manila is really disadvantageous for examinees from the provinces, not only financially but also emotionally and psychologically,” he said. Since 1903, the Bar Exams have always been held in Metro Manila.
RELATED STORY
Holding Bar exams outside Manila prone to risks