UC LAW SCHOOL: TOP TEN

Michelle Liao has two careers paths as certified public accountant and an incoming lawyer. (CDN PHOTO/ FE MARIE DUMABOC)

Cebu university’s first female Bar topnotcher lands  no. 5

A Cebuana landed in the top ten of the 2014 Bar Examinations.

Michelle Liao of the University of Cebu (UC) placed fifth with a passing rate of 84.5 percent or  just one point behind the highest score of 85.5 percent received by Irene Mae Alcobilla of San Beda College.

In law school, Liao graduated cum laude and was class valedictorian.

She was already a certified public accountant who took up law after resigning from her first job.

Her performance continued the trend in recent years of a Cebu law school making it to the top ten in Bar exams usually dominated by Manila-based universities.

Liao will receive a brand new Toyota Vios sedan from the university, a reward that UC president Augusto Go made an annual incentive since 2007 for graduates who bring honor to the school by topping the bar.   A year earlier, another UC alumnus finished sixth in the Bar.

Liao, the only daughter of businessman Benjamin Liao and wife Lydia, is UC’s first female bar topnotcher.

She finished a degree in accountancy in USC where she graduated magna cum laude.

Liao, 31, was at home in barangay Lahug, Cebu City when the results were announced by the Supreme Court past 11 a.m. yesterday.  Her father was watching the news on TV.

“It was unbelievable. I’m overwhelmed. I never expected to finish that way,” Liao told reporters after visiting the Carmelite Monastery to offer prayers of thanksgiving.

Friends described her as a woman with a simple style who preferred to commute to school.

“I don’t have a car.  I don’t know how to drive,” she laughed.

With the prize car to be given by UC, Liao said she would now have to learn how to drive.

No definite plans are in the horizon, she said.

“Whatever I will decide later, for sure, it will be something… to give back to the people. I know this is God’s plan for me.   This is His gift so I will serve His purpose.”

A total of 1,126 or 18.82 % of the 6,344 examinees passed the 2014 bar exam.

The national passing rate is lower than the previous year’s 22.18 percent.

This year the Supreme Court lowered the passing grade from 75 percent to 73 percent.

UC had 22 examinees who took the Bar with 13 passing or a rate of 59 percent.

Dean Baldomero Estenzo of the UC College of Law said he was surprised with the low national passing rate in last year’s bar exams.

“I thought the questions were reasonable although they were really just very long,” he said.

“We keep motivating our students to study. I hope they will draw inspiration from our bar topnotchers, and perhaps that brand new car that awaits them,” he said.

Last year, Manuel Elijah Sarausad of UC placed sixth with a grade of 83.8 percent. UC’s  Christian Llido ranked 10th in the 2007 bar exams and Al-Shwaid Ismael placed 8th in 2006.

Last year, another Cebu law school celebrated when a graduate of the University of San Carlos (USC) placed fifth in the Bar,  Tercel Mercado-Gephart.

READ: Cebu Gov’s eldest daughter passes bar exam

“The Bar Examinations nowadays are becoming unprecedented. We see the unpredictability, both as to the type of questions asked, and the format being put in place,” said USC College of Law dean Joan Largo.

“There are many reasons why a passing percentage is low. We have always been vocal about it among us legal educators. We need to look into the kind of bar exams conducted year in year out,” she said.

Largo said she was happy that over half of their law graduates made it.  Out of 62 USC law graduates who took the Bar last year, 41 passed or 66.13 percent.   This was a little lower than the previous year’s passing rate of 81 percent.

READ: Fr. Dan passes the Bar: Saints helped me out

“We hope for the best in the coming years. We will just continue what we have done and maybe polish it some more,” Largo said.

She encouraged those who did not pass never to lose hope.

“You know the bar exam is really just one exam. It should never define the worth of a person. Never give up,” she said.

A total of 6,344 law graduates took the exams on four Sundays of October at the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila. Only 5,984 completed the test.

Last year’s Bar Exam also saw more exam re-takers than first-timers with a total of 3, 229 or 50.9 percent compared to the 3, 115 first takers.

Innovations were introduced including the use of Bar Codes for the exam booklets.  All examinees also had to place their  personal belongings in clear, plastic bags for faster security checks.