Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said on Thursday, July 8, the licensure examinations for law graduates should be maintained because “the legal profession is vested with public interest.”
“We should see to it that only those who are fit and qualified to join the ranks of the legal profession meet the standards required of them,” Gesmundo stressed.
At the same time, the Chief Justice said: “There is a specific rule under Rules of Court that provides the mandatory taking of bar exams as well as its coverage. As long as it is in the Rules of Court, we have to comply with it.”
He was referring to Rule 138 on “Attorneys and Admission to Bar.” The rule spells out, among other things, the procedures, requirements, qualifications of those allowed to take the bar examinations and even the number of days and subjects of the tests.
Gesmundo reacted to the published statement of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, who floated the idea of abolishing licensure examinations for nursing and law.
On bar examinations, Bello said that a law graduate had gone through four years of pre-law and four years of law school proper.
Aside from nursing and law, he also said the licensure examinations for engineering and dentistry should be abolished.
“I respect Secretary Bello’s opinion. But as far as I am concerned, we should maintain the bar exams so that we can test qualifications of those who aspire to join the legal profession.”
He also said:
“The bar exam has been one of the qualifying exams that has been traditionally looked up to and looked forward to by those who completed the law degree.
“Aside from the tradition, it is important that we make sure that those who join the legal profession are competent, that they can, you know, perform their duties as lawyers, not only to the court but also to their clients and to society as a whole.
“So, the qualifying exam for legal professionals should be continued.”
Because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that started in 2020, the bar examinations for 2020 was cancelled and they will be administered online by the Supreme Court jointly with the 2021 tests this November in various testing sites in the country.
On Thursday evening, July 8, Chief Justice Gesmundo was expected to witness the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the SC and Baguio City’s St. Louis University which had been selected as one of the testing sites.