The Supreme Court on Sunday announced that some takers of the 2020/21 Bar Examinations were disqualified for violating policies set by the Office of the Bar Chairperson and the honor code.
In a bar bulletin, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said his office had received reports of examinees who “deliberately entered the local testing centers without disclosing that they had previously tested positive for Covid-19.”
There were also some who smuggled mobile phones inside the examination rooms and some who accessed social media during lunch break inside the premises, Leonen said.
“For their infractions, I am exercising my prerogative as bar chairperson to disqualify these examinees from the 2020/21 Bar Examinations,” he added.
Leonen said the disqualification only applied for this year’s condensed bar examinations.
“For now, reflect on what you have done, but know that you can still change your narrative. You will not end up as the examinee who lost your honor forever in your desperation to pass an examination,” he said.
“Learn from your mistake, and earn your honor back,” Leonen added.
Leonen also urged the 219 examinees who tested positive for Covid-19 and were not able to take the exam to “not lose hope.”
The country has not produced a new lawyer since the Covid-19 pandemic. John Ezekiel J. Hirro