More lawyers sought for poor provinces

IT is now time to empower the provinces with more lawyers.

In a text message to TheManilaTimes over the weekend, Supreme Court ( SC) Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco said the country needs more lawyers to attend to the needs of marginalized Filipinos.

Velasco added that he is happy with the result of this year’s Bar examinations, of which he was chairman.

He noted that the 2016 examinations had a passing rate of 59.06 percent, the second highest in history next to the 1954 Bar examinations with 75.17 percent.

The all-time low was 16.5 percent in 1999.

What makes last year’s examinations more notable is that the Top 10 came from the provinces, particularly from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Velasco expressed hope that these provinces topping the Bar would lead to more lawyers providing legal services to their province mates.

“Yes, I’m really happy that many in the provinces and in providing legal aid services to the poor and the marginalized,” he said.

A total of 3,747 out of the 6,344 examinees who took the 2016 Bar Examinations passed.

Oath-taking of the successful examinees will be held today at 3 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Registration will start at 11 a.m.