SC sets oral arguments on centralized law school exams

The Supreme Court (SC) has set oral arguments on petitions challenging the policy of the Legal Education Board (LEB) centralizing entrance examinations in law schools.

In a resolution promulgated last Jan. 15, the High Court set oral arguments on March 5 and 12 on the two petitions by retired Makati Regional Trial Court judge Oscar Pimentel and a group of law students questioning the conduct of the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhiLSAT).

The SC gave the LEB, through its chairman Emerson Aguende, 10 days to submit its comment to the second peti- tion filed by the law students and consolidated it with the first one filed by Pimentel last year.

The Court also tapped Ateneo Law School dean Sedfrey Candelaria and professor Merlin Magalona as friends of the court or experts during the hearing.

The petition questioned the constitutionality of Republic Act 7662, the Legal Education Reform Act, which became the basis for the issuance of LEB Memorandum Order No. 7 for the conduct of PhiLSAT.

The memorandum dated Dec. 29, 2016 provided for the mechanisms of the one-day aptitude test to measure the academic potentials of an examinee who wants to pursue law.

The first PhiLSAT examination was held in April last year at seven locations.

According to the memorandum, while school year 20172018 will be the pilot year for PhiLSAT, law schools will still be allowed to enroll students who took the exams but did not meet the passing score of 55 percent.

The new rule requires law schools to comply with the provisions of the regulation or they will be subjected to sanctions and fines of up to P10,000.