CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Integrated Bar of the Philippines in Cebu City is urging the Supreme Court to postpone the conduct of Bar examinations in areas affected by Typhoon Odette.
In a joint resolution, the lawyers group said that while they appreciate the decentralization of the Bar examinations, there is a need to postpone its January 2022 schedule to another date to allow typhoon-affected areas in the country to recover.
To date, several localities in the Visayas and Mindanao areas continue its post-Odette recovery efforts.
“The Law Deans in Cebu, through IBP Cebu City, have made an assessment of the damage, reached out to and accounted its barristers, and conducted consultations with them regarding their concerns for the Bar Examinations. The Law Schools in Cebu are yet to hear from all their bar candidates,” portions of the joint resolution reads.
According to a recent survey, there are at least 432 candidates for examinations coming the different Law Schools here.
These are the University of San Carlos with 163, University of San Jose Recoletos – 109, University of Cebu – 70, University of Southern Philippines Foundation – 46, University of the Visayas – 24 and the Southwestern University – 20.
All of these candidates requested for a postponement of the January 2022 Bar exams.
In addition, IBP Cebu City Chapter also raised a concern on the lack of power in most areas here that may affect the preparations of the candidates.
Visayan Electric earlier said they be able to fully restore power within their franchise area by January 31, 2022.
READ: Fully restored power by end of January 2022 — Visayan Electric
Telecommunication companies, on the other hand, have not given a timeline as to when they will be able to fully restore telco signal here.
IBP said the three Bar examination sites located at the UC, USC, and USJR campuses also incurred physical damage, lost its utilities, and no longer have Internet connection.
Repairs works will take time to ensure that the testing sites will be ready for use.
Also, the Bar’s volunteer proctors were also badly hit by the typhoon making it difficult for them to be present during the examination schedule.
“The foregoing concerns and circumstances be taken into consideration by the Bar Chairperson, Honorable Associate Justice Marvic MVF Leonen and that the Bar Examinations in Cebu and other areas affected by Typhoon Odette be postponed,” the IBP Cebu City Chapter’s resolution reads. / dcb
