**media**
A total of 526 examinees finished the two-day 17th Shari’ah Bar examinations administered by the Supreme Court (SC) last March 20 and 22 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
In a press statement, the SC’s public information office (PIO) said that 532 examinees took the tests on March 20 but six of them did not take the examinations on the second day last March 22.
The first day of the examinations covered Persons, Family Relation and Property, and Jurisprudence and Customary Laws. The second day was on Procedure in Shari’ah Courts, and Succession, Wills/Adjudication and Settlement of Estates.
The PIO said the examinations were held at UP’s College of Engineering, College of Arts and Letters, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and School of Economics of UP Diliman.
It said that Associate Professor and UP Institute of Islamic Studies Dean Macrina A. Morados is the chairperson of the 17th Shari’ah Bar examinations.
SC Associate Justice Japar B. Dimaampao, the chairperson of the 16th Shari’ah Bar Examinations, visited the UP testing sites.
The PIO said the holding of the examinations in UP Diliman was supported by Dr. Fidel R. Nemenzo, current chancellor of UP Diliman; Atty. Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, dean of the UP College of Law; and Director Laman M. Piang of the Bureau of Muslim Affairs of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
It noted that the 17th Shari’ah Bar Examinations paved the way for the UP Institute of Islamic Studies to re-engage with the UP College of Law and NCMF in developing projects to improve Muslim Law and to provide services to Muslim constituents, especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
It also said that the Shari’ah Bar examinations are administered to allow Muslim professionals to qualify and practice before the Shari’ah courts in the Philippines constituted under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines.
A check with Court Administrator Raul Bautista Villanueva showed there is only one of five organized Shari’ah districts courts in operation.
There are 19 Shari'ah circuit courts operating out of 36 which have been organized in Regions IX (Western Mindanao) and XII (Central Mindanao), Villanueva said.
Shari’ah district court functions like the regional trial courts, while Shari’ah circuit courts are like the municipal and metropolitan trial courts.