CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — After being suspended for two years due to the pandemic, the 2020/2021 Bar was finally held last February 4 and 6 with Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan’s downtown campus as one of the host centers for the examinees from Northern Mindanao.

XU's Vice President for Administration Edison Sasoy, in his memo to the Xavier Ateneo community, said that there were 392 law graduates from Northern Mindanao who took this year’s long-awaited Bar exams at the campus, including the 113 XU Bar takers.

Dean Silvia Jo Sabio of the XU College of Law shared her special message for the takers from XU: “I am proud of the XU Law graduates who took the Bar Exams, notwithstanding the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. May they all be blessed in their brave efforts and sacrifices.”

Aside from securing the areas for the Bar exams days before, antigen testing was conducted for all examinees at the covered courts. Different areas within the campus were also restricted from non-authorized personnel to preserve the integrity of the exams and as a safety measure.

The Bar exams, usually held all Sundays of November, have been postponed three times. Due to the challenges brought about by the COVID crisis, the Supreme Court decided to introduce a few changes, like the digitalization (using the Examplify software) of the Bar exams which will be held in several local test centers instead of one.

Nationwide, 11,378 examinees took the 2-day Bar Exams which were held simultaneously in 31 local test centers at 21 local government units. 

In an article from Inquirer, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the 2020/2021 Bar Chairperson, said the 11,378 was 96.5% of the 11,790 law graduates who were expected to take the Bar.