‘Hold bar exams outside Manila’

With the outstanding performance of the new Cebu lawyers in the recent Bar examination, the Cebu City Council urged the Supreme Court (SC) to consider holding the test in other regions outside Manila.

Councilor Raymond Garcia said this after the council passed a resolution that commended the four Cebuano topnotchers and the University of San Carlos (USC) for garnering 100 percent passing percentage in the 2016 Bar exams.

This year’s USC College of Law topnotchers are Karen Mae Calam (top 1), Fiona Cristy Lao (3rd), Anne Margaret Momongan (7th) and Jefferson Gomez (8th).

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella sent a separate letter to Atty. Joan Largo, dean of the USC College of Law, to express his commendations for their achievement.

In an interview, Garcia said that with USC’s performance, he is hopeful that the new batch of Cebuano lawyers will convince the SC to hold bar exams in other regions to allow takers in other parts of the country to save funds.

“It was always the practice to hold the bar in Manila and even from my experience it is very taxing on the part of the bar examinees from the province to go to Manila to review. They spend one month or more. They leave their families whose support they need in taking the exam. Then it is also very taxing because they will spend for the review, rent, transportation and food,” he told reporters.

The cost of living in Manila is also very high compared to that in the provinces, Garcia said.