Ilocos Norte produces 7 new lawyers

LAOAG CITY, May 4 (PIA) – Ilocos Norte took pride of its law professional sector as seven Ilocanos here successfully passed the 2015 Bar Examinations based on the list of passers released by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Three passers are alumni of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac City namely: Enrique A. Gallardo from Pagudpud, Dionne Mae A. Mendoza from Laoag City, and Mervin M. Reyes from Pinili town in Ilocos Norte.

The other passers are Mona Lisa Antonio and Wilfred Murla, both graduates of Northwestern Univesity (NWU) in Laoag City; Kristine Badua from San Nicolas, who graduated from University of Cordilleras and Ann Marie Loren Reantillo Pastor, from Laoag City, who took up law in San Beda College in Mendiola, Manila.

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines released result of the November 2015 Bar examination at exactly 1:00pm on Tuesday minutes after it announced the names of the ten Bar topnotchers.

Rachel Angeli B. Miranda of the University of the Philippines-School of Law topped the Bar with an 87.40 percent rating.
Out of 6,665 Bar examinees, only 1, 731 or 26.21 percent passed, but is higher than the 18.78 percent in 2014.

Unlike the previous years where the SC has lowered the passing rate into 73 percent, the SC maintained the standard passing rate of 75 percent in the 2015 Bar exam.

In 2013 and 2014, the Supreme Court also lowered the passing grade to 73% in light of the difficulty the candidates encountered with the multiple choice question (MCQ) portion of the exam.

The bar examination was held on November 8, 15, 22, and 29 respectively at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) under the supervision of the SC.

The examinations are given in the course of one month, spread over four Sundays with distributed examinable subjects which are: Political Law and Public International Law, Labor and Social Legislation, Civil Law, Taxation, Mercantile Law, Criminal Law, Remedial Law and Legal and Judicial Ethics.

Oath taking for successful examinees is set on June 16, 2016. In previous years, the event is usually being held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City. (VHS/CJDG, PIA1-Ilocos Norte)