MANILA, Philippines – A total of 3,812 out of 10,387 examinees passed the 2023 Bar Examinations, the Office of the Bar Chair, through the Supreme Court (SC), announced on Tuesday, December 5.

The passing rate for the 2023 Bar is 36.77%. Compared to last year, the result this year was much lower. The passing rate for the 2022 Bar examinations was 43.47% or 3,992 hopefuls of 9,183 passing, with Czar Matthew Dayday of the University of the Philippines College of Law garnering the highest score.

The results were announced by 2023 Bar chair Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando after the SC’s special en banc session. Like in the past years, the list of successful passers were released through a large screen mounted at the SC grounds, as some of the hopefuls and their loved ones waited for their much-anticipated results.

The list of successful examinees was also released on the SC website and the High Court’s social media accounts on X, Threads, Facebook, and Instagram. The oath-taking and roll signing of successful examinees will immediately follow on December 22, at the SMX Convention Center Manila, Seashell Lane in Pasay City.

This was one of the fastest instances where the SC immediately issued the list of passers – only months after the 2023 Bar Examinations. During the first day of Bar exams on September 17, Hernando said the results would be released by early December.

During the three-day exams held on September 17, 20, and 24, a total of 10,816 candidates were expected to take the test, but only over 10,300 completed finished all. The tests were conducted in 14 testing centers across the country.

The 2023 Bar also marked the third year since 2020/2021 that the tests were digitalized instead of handwritten. The 2023 batch of lawyers will be the second to use the new lawyer’s oath, authored by Senior Associate Marvic Leonen, which put emphasis on the word justice.

The new batch of lawyers entered the legal profession at the time of continuous attacks and intimidation against members of the profession. In September this year, Abra lawyer Maria Saniata Liwliwa Gonzales Alzate was gunned down, with the suspect yet to be arrested, as of writing. She was the 118th lawyer killed since 1972. – Rappler.com