THE LEGAL FRONT By JUSTICE ART D. BRION (RET.) J. Art D. Brion (RET.) After the Legal Education Summit on July 31, 2019, and my article on Legal Education entitled “Bar examinations: the best and the worst law schools” on the same day, I promised myself that I would not touch legal education again in this column.  I felt that I had spoken enough and the time had come for the stakeholders to act. Three events, however, intervened that led me to backtrack on my promise. The first was the invitation of our Ateneo Law School Dean, Joey Hofilena, to the members of the faculty to participate in hosting Chairman Emerson Aquende and the Legal Education Board at the law school on September 16, 2019, to celebrate Philippine National Law Week. The dean mentioned on the side that the LEB would also congratulate the ALS “for garnering 88.78% (158/178) passing rate for new/first time examinees in the 2018 bar examinations, the highest of all law schools in the country.” Wow, I said, on reading the email although the distinction was not something new to me; the ALS had achieved this distinction a couple of times before.  But the news still elated me: it was a recognition not only for the students but also for the members of the faculty who made the achievement possible. The second development came when, as a journalist-lawyer now, I inquired how the other law schools stand.  I thus called up the LEB to ask and they very generously emailed me the score for the best and the worst law schools, knowing that I had written on this topic before. The LEB gave me the listings below based on the Supreme Court records.  The best law schools in 2018 were:  

RANK	SCHOOL	NEW EXAMINEES			REPEATERS			OVERALL
		Takers	Passers	%	Takers	Passers	%	Takers	Passers	%
1	Ateneo de Manila University	178	158	88.76	26	19	73.08	204	177	86.76
2	University of the Philippines	150	130	86.67	23	16	69.57	173	146	84.39
3	Ateneo de Davao University	24	20	83.33	7	0	0	31	20	64.52
4	University of San Carlos	86	67	77.91	12	4	33.33	98	71	72.45
5	Xavier University	29	22	75.86	22	6	27.27	51	28	54.90
6	San Beda University	177	127	71.75	54	22	40.74	231	149	64.50
7	University of Santo Tomas	126	90	71.43	26	6	23.08	152	96	63.16
8	Angeles University Foundation	15	10	66.67	5	1	20.00	20	11	55.00
8	Silliman University	18	12	66.67	19	2	10.53	37	14	37.84
8	University of Northern Philippines	6	4	66.67	9	1	11.11	15	5	33.33
9	University of San Agustin	48	29	60.42	22	4	18.18	70	33	47.14
10	Mariano Marcos State University	5	3	60.00	2	0	0	7	3	42.86

This listing has hardly changed in the last few years except in a minor way, in the ranking of law schools. The non-performing law schools are still generally the same group that the Court and the LEB have been listing in the past.  

SCHOOL	NEW EXAMINEES			REPEATERS			OVERALL
	Takers	Passers	%	Takers	Passers	%	Takers	Passers	%
BIT International Colleges	14	0	0	17	0	0	31	0	0
University of Northeastern Philippines	12	0	0	18	0	0	30	0	0
Kalinga State University	9	0	0	10	0	0	19	0	0
Southern Bicol Colleges	12	0	0	4	0	0	16	0	0
President Ramon Magsaysay State University	12	0	0	3	0	0	15	0	0
Lyceum Northwestern University	6	0	0	8	0	0	14	0	0
Urdaneta City University	9	0	0	5	0	0	14	0	0
Leyte Colleges	20	0	0	23	1	4.35	43	1	2.33
Tarlac State University	22	0	0	17	1	5.88	39	1	2.56
University of Manila	14	0	0	43	2	4.65	57	2	3.51
Christ the King College	7	0	0	11	1	9.09	18	1	5.56
City University of Pasay	8	0	0	18	2	11.11	26	2	7.69
Aklan Catholic Colleges	16	0	0	9	2	22.22	25	2	8
Bicol College	5	0	0	18	2	11.11	23	2	8.70
Laguna State Polytechnic University	5	0	0	6	1	16.67	11	1	9.09
St. Mary’s College of Tagum	5	0	0	2	2	100	7	2	28.57

Up to this point, I saw no need to break my promise.  I felt, in light of my previous articles, that I would not be presenting anything new to our readers. A third development, however, came.  I learned, while inquiring about Philippine National Law Week events, that the LEB now stands as respondent in a case filed by the students of the President Ramon Magsaysay State University (PRMSU) College of Law before the Regional Trial Court of Olongapo City.  The petitioners seek to prevent the LEB from closing down their law school this school year. They allege that the LEB’s closure order unlawfully “excludes from the use and enjoyment of their constitutional and statutory right to education and their statutory right to finish their academic studies…., a violation of the academic freedom of higher learning of the PRMSU, i.e., on when to teach its classes.” I shall not comment on this sub judice matter, but I feel obligated to tell the public the petitioners’ own background allegations.

1. In 2011, the school was directed to show cause on why it should not be downgraded to Permit Status. The LEB provisionally restored its operating status after one of its two examinees passed the 2011 bar examinations.
2. In 2013, it received another LEB warning for incurring another zero passing rate in the 2012 bar examinations.
3. In 2014, it received still another warning for incurring zero passing rate in the 2012 and 2013 bar examinations.
4. On March 6, 2019, it received a closure order for incurring six cumulative zero passing rates, namely, in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017.

These data tell me that PRMSU is not exactly a model law school except in the Reverse Honor sense. Will this petition trigger another round of litigation for the LEB, given the many other 0%-rated law schools? The great Cicero – in exasperation during his time on a public issue – famously said: Quo usque tandem abutere Catilina, patientia nostra? The country, it seems, has every reason to repeat the same sentiment today. [email protected]