Republic of
the
Philippines
Supreme
Court
Manila
Gentlemen:
Quoted hereunder,
for your information, is a resolution of the Court En Banc dated 29
September
2003
In its resolution,
dated 23 September 2003, the Court, acting on the report and
recommendation
by the Chairman of the 2003 Bar Examinations Committee concerning the
examination
conducted on the morning of September 21, 2003 on the subject of
Mercantile
Law, resolved to: (a) NULLIFY the examination on this subject, in view
of the Court's findings which affect the integrity of the examination
in
Mercantile Law; (b) HOLD another examination in Mercantile Law on
Saturday
October 4, 2003, at eight o'clock in the evening (being the earliest
available
time and date), at the same venue (De La Salle University, Taft Avenue,
Manila.)chan robles
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Before the Court
are the following:
1)
MOTION
FOR RECONSIDERATION/PETITION filed by Dean Romulo V. Borja, Chairman,
Dean
Andres D. Bautista, President, Dean Mariano F. Magsalin, Jr., Secretary
General and Dean Antonio H. Abad, Jr., Past President; represented by
the
Philippine Association of Law Schoolschan
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2) URGENT
PETITION
TO RECONSIDER THE EN BANC RESOLUTION OF THE SURPEME COURT IN RE:
NULLIFICATION
OF 2003 MERCANTILE LAW EXAMINATIONS filed by petitioners Mr. Leandro B.
Yangot, Jr., Agusto Bacoling, Ferdinand A. Castillo and Froilan Roger
C.
Lawilao.chan robles
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3)
LETTER, dated
26 September 2003, of Professor Antonio R. Tupaz
4)
LETTER, dated
29 September 2003, of Bantay Katarungan signed by former ambassador
Sedfrey
A. Ordonez, Chairman, Former Senator Jovito R. Salonga, Adviser and
Trustee
and Professor Florin T. Hilbay, Supervising Lawyer
5)
LETTER, dated
29 September 2003, of Atty. Estelito P. Mendoza
6)
LETTER, dated
25 September 2003, of Dean Reynaldo L. Suarez, College of Law,
University
of the East
The Court has
observed
that although petitioners/movants have agreed to the nullification of
the
bar examinations in Mercantile Law, they, however, have expressed
strong
reservations against the holding of another examination on the subject.
Various reasons have been advanced, viz:chan
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"It cannot be denied
that there are thousands of bar examinees who come from Visayas and
Mindanao
and other far flung areas of the Philippines. These bar examinees were
prepared physically, emotionally, and financially to stay in the City
of
Manila only for four weeks."chan
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"To extend the examinations
for another week will not only drain the bar examinees physically and
emotionally
but will cause them and their families undue financial hardship in
maintaining
themselves in the City of Manila for board and lodging and other
expenses
attendant thereto."chan
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"The leakage in Mercantile
Law, in all probability, could have benefited only a few of the bar
examinees,
considering that only a few schools were perceived to have been in
possession
of the leaked bar examinations questions."
"It is the considered
opinion of the petitioners/movants that the bar examinations in the
seven
subjects excluding Mercantile Law) will suffice to test the competence
and probity of the bar examinees to become bona fide members of the
bar."
"In a meeting/referendum
held by the Philippine Association of Law Schools, where the subject of
this petition/motion was voted upon by the Deans of law schools
present,
the results of the voting were as follows:
In favor
of the petition/motion - 40
Against
the petition/motion
- 3
Abstain
- 3"chan
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x
x x
As an
alternative solution
to the problem, it has been proposed that:
"(1)
the
order of the Court requiring a re-examination be withdrawn; and
(2) the
results of
the bar examinations be measured on the basis of the performance of the
examinees in the seven other examinations OR the weight of Mercantile
Law
be spread out among the seven other examinations.
"We
believe this
to be the just solution because: (1) the results of the seven other
examinations
will still furnish sufficient basis for judging whether or not a
particular
examinee has the minimum skills required for the practice of law; (2)
it
will save the Court a considerable amount of time, money, and effort in
conducting another examination; 3) it will save bar examinees an
equally
considerable amount of time, money, and effort in taking an extra exam
which they never anticipated and should not be held responsible for."
Acting on the
foregoing
and finding merit in the above submissions, the Court, after
deliberations,
resolved to grant the various petitions seeking to cancel the scheduled
bar examination for Mercantile Law on October 4, 2003 and, in lieu
thereof,
to allocate among the seven other subjects in the Bar Examinations the
fifteen percent weight of Mercantile Law.
WHEREFORE, the Court
RESOLVED to cancel the holding of the scheduled examination in
Mercantile
Law on October 4, 2003 as ordered in the Resolution
of September 23, 2003 and to allocate the fifteen percentage points
for Mercantile Law among the remaining seven (7) bar examination
subjects.chan
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The Court further
RESOLVED to create a Committee composed of three retired members of the
Court that shall conduct a thorough investigation on the incident
subject
of the September
23, 2003 resolution. The Committee shall submit its report and
recommendation
not later than December 15, 2003.chan
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Corona and Azcuna,
JJ., on leave.chan
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virtual law library Very truly
yours,
(Sgd.)
LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO
Clerk of Court
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