A FEW or less than 10 Bar examinees of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) have tested positive for Coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
This was disclosed by Jonathan Capanas, USJ-R School of Law dean, to SunStar Cebu, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, a day before the start of the two-day examinations.
Capanas said the school has about 200 candidates for the Bar exams, which will be held on Feb. 4 and 6 in three venues in Cebu—University of Cebu Banilad campus, University of San Carlos main campus and University of San Jose-Recoletos Basak campus.
Al-Shwaid de Leon, dean of the University of Cebu (UC) Law, said all its 90 candidates for the Bar exam tested negative for Covid-19.
Early Thursday, some lawyers in Cebu who are also political figures offered to shoulder the quarantine expenses of Bar examinees who test positive for Covid-19 during the confirmatory RT-PCR (real time-polymerase chain reaction) test, which is required for examinees who test positive in the antigen test.
Exam candidates who test positive in the RT-PCR test will not be admitted to the testing sites, according to the Supreme Court’s Bar Bulletin No. 31, series of 2022.
Testing of the 1,200 Bar examinees in Cebu for Covid-19 was undertaken on Feb. 2 and 3.
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, head of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said Thursday that they had asked the Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines during their meeting with the representatives of the Judicial and Bar Council to allow all Bar applicants to take the exam regardless of the results of their swab test but failed to get the SC’s approval.
Thus, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia, Cebu 3rd District Rep. Pablo John Garcia and Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chairman Gerardo Carillo, who are all lawyers, volunteered to shoulder the hotel accommodation, food and other necessities of Bar candidates who will now be excluded from the exams while in quarantine, said Garganera.
The EOC head said the lawyers sympathized with the examinees, some of whom were coming from faraway places, while others had resorted to borrowing money for their review, taking a leave of absence from work or even borrowing money with their property as collateral, just to take the Bar exams.
Did everything
“We have reached the end of the line. Wala gyud (but we failed). We catered to all the requests. We put everything in place. Hopefully, mosugot sila (they would agree). But I don’t know between now, ugma na gud (it’s tomorrow already). My heart is bleeding,” the emotional Garganera said.
The north district councilor said the SC, through its text message, won’t allow Covid-19 positive asymptomatic individuals to take the exam separately.
“Not everyone is as supportive to examinees as Cebu City,” said Garganera in reaction to the SC’s text message.
Garganera would not divulge how many Bar candidates had tested positive, saying local government units are not allowed to divulge the results.
“With a heavy heart, the least we could do is isolate them to a hotel facility at our expense, not the city, but from well-meaning lawyer-friends,” he said.
In a Facebook post, Ben Cabrido Jr., a Cebu-based lawyer, said there should be a way for those who tested positive for Covid-19 to take the exams.
“There’s got to be a way for them to take the exam, say, a separate exam room for all who tested positive but show mild symptoms. Please,” Cabrido’s post read.
The lawyer made the statement after a tweet of a certain Kathleen Madroño, who had waited for two years for this year’s Bar exam but tested positive for Covid-19.
“Been to law school for 6 years, Justice. Waited for another 2 years for this exam. Sa isang iglap (In an instant) POSITIVE ANTIGEN lang ang katapat. And I am financially exhausted. Pagkatapos nito, balik sa buhay na walang income, walang trabaho, walang pera, walang bar exam. Paano (After this, I return to a life with no income, no work, no money, no bar exam. What now)?” Madroño’s tweet read.
The 2020 Bar exams were postponed to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Send-off
Two universities conducted virtual send-off ceremonies Thursday, for their Bar examinees this year instead of the traditional festive face-to-face activities to ensure protection from Covid-19.
Early Thursday, USJ-R’s Capanas and UC’s de Leon told SunStar Cebu they would conduct virtual send-off ceremonies.
As part of the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court, Capanas said they could not even take the examinees or bring them as a group to the three testing centers in Cebu.
“So they are on their own, because what the Supreme Court wants to prevent is, of course, the infection. As much as possible, they do not want the examinees to be exposed to people who are positive,” he said.
For his part, de Leon said each UC law candidate will have a designated driver who is either an alumnus-volunteer or student, but he stressed that the latter are likewise required to undergo rapid antigen tests.
USJ-R has about 200 candidates for the Bar exams, although not everyone will be taking their exams in Cebu.
De Leon said the Covid-19 pandemic had entirely changed the dynamic as they had to consider a lot of things, particularly the restrictions and limitations imposed by the Supreme Court and the Office of the Bar Chairperson.
These include the health and safety of their Bar candidates, who have been in isolation since early January.
With this, de Leon said their activities were very limited, which is why all their last-minute lectures were virtual.
The same goes for USJ-R candidates, said Capanas, who conducted only online lectures and mentoring and read all they could under the circumstances to prepare their examinees.
“We are just contacting them online. We are helping them. We are monitoring them. And also very challenging because online activities can’t actually supplant face-to-face activities,” he said.
But Capanas said they are confident that many will be able to make it to this year’s Bar exams, while also acknowledging that the biggest challenges the majority of the examinees are facing are psychological, emotional and financial problems.
“Because the exams have been delayed for quite some time already. In fact, our takers, or graduates who were supposed to take in 2020, are going to take it at the same time as the 2021 candidates,” he explained.
Capanas said if this year’s Bar exams turn out to be successful, there is a huge possibility that subsequent examinations will be done at the regional level, if not the local level.
This year is the first time the Bar exams will be held in Cebu. (TPT, CTL)