The Bar examinations: 1913-2007 topnotchers

04Apr09

The 2008 Bar examinations were the 95th to be conducted starting from 1913. World War II prevented two similar examinations from being held in 1942 and 1943.

The 94 Bar examinations, from 1913 to 2007, produced a total of 96 topnotchers. There were two first placers in 1944 (former Senate President Jovito Salonga and former Sen. Jose Diokno, who tied at 95.3 percent) and also in 1999 (Deputy Executive Secretary Edwin Enrile and Law Prof. Florin Hilbay, who tied at 88.5 percent).

All throughout the history of the Bar examinations (1913 to 2007), only 13 law schools managed to produce first placers.

Of the 96 Bar topnotchers, 49 were from the University of the Philippines; Ateneo de Manila University, 19; San Beda College, 6; Philippine Law School, 5; University of Manila, 4; University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University, 3 each; Manuel L. Quezon University, 2; and University of the East, Manila Law College Foundation (formerly Escuela de Derecho de Manila), University of Bohol, University of the Cordilleras and Baguio Colleges Foundation, 1 each.

Three of the Bar topnotchers made history as President of the Philippines, one become Vice President and several others became senators, congressmen, Chief Justices and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court or appointed to important government posts.

Manuel Roxas, grandfather of Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd of Capiz, made history in 1913 when he topped the 1913 examinations with a grade of 92 percent. Roxas, a UP law graduate, was elected president on April 23, 1946. He was the first president of an independent Philippine Republic.

Following Roxas was Diosdado Macapagal, the father of President Gloria Arroyo, who was elected as the 9th president of the Republic in 1961. Macapagal, a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, topped the Bar examinations in 1936.

Then came Ferdinand Marcos in 1939 with a 92.35 rating. Marcos was elected president in 1965, defeating Macapagal, who was seeking reelection.

Emmanuel Pelaez, who topped the 1938 examinations with a rating of 91.3 percent, was elected vice president in 1961.

Rep. Ronaldo Zamora of San Juan City (Metro Manila), who served as executive secretary to former President Joseph Estrada, was the first placer in 1969 and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, a former three-term congressman from Tarlac, the topnotcher in 1989.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Florenz Regalado, a 1954 examinee, holds the highest score of 96.7 percent in the history of the Bar examinations.

Ateneo Law School’s Mercedita Ona, the 2007 topnotcher, holds the lowest grade of 83.55 percent for a first placer, which erased the prior record of 84.10 percent, obtained by Adolfo Brillantes of Escuela de Derecho de Manila (now Manila Law College Foundation) in 1920.

The first woman to break the men’s dominance of the Bar examinations was former Sen. Tecla San Andres-Ziga. She took the examinations in 1930 and scored 89.4 percent.

The second woman to top the Bar examinations and the first woman to be appointed as Supreme Court Chief Justice was Cecilia Muñoz-Palma. She took the examinations in 1937 and got a grade of 92.6 percent. She was appointed to the High Tribunal by Marcos on October 29, 1973.

Ameurfina Melencio Herrera, the 1947 Bar topnotcher, was the second woman Associate Justice elevated to the Supreme Court. She filled up the seat vacated by Palma.

Carolina Grino-Aquino followed Herrera to the High Court as Associate Justice in 1988. She topped the Bar in 1950 with a 92.05 percent rating.

Since then, 11 women have become topnotchers.

Three first placers also made their way to become Supreme Court Chief Justices. They were Roberto Concepcion (1924), Claudio Teehankee (1940) and Pedro Yap (1946).

The 1974 Bar topnotcher, Arturo Brion, is an incumbent Associate Justice of the High Tribunal.