The second and third placers in the 2007 Bar Examinations, Jennifer Ong and Yvanna Maalat, are Bacolod residents who were consistent honor students during their elementary and high school years in the city.

Ong, the second of the four children of TH Plaza store owners Ong On Long and Preciosa, belongs to St. John’s Institute Batch ’99, and completed her legal management pre-law from Ateneo de Manila University. She finished her law studies at the University of the Philippines and placed second among the 1,289 bar passers out of the 5,626 who took the examinations September last year.

“I never expected to be on the Top 10, and was only hoping to pass the bar,” Ong said.

She said the examinations were getting harder and she almost decided not to take the last test on Remedial Law and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises if not for the encouragement of her mother.

Studying for the bar examinations requires time management and one should set a goal while reviewing for all those subjects, Ong said, adding that she studied for almost eight hours a day, three months before the bar.

Aside from her family, she expressed her gratitude to her maternal grandaunt, lawyer Lily Uy-Valencia, who also placed No. 2 in the 1982 bar examinations.

Maalat, on the other hand, was on the Top 4 of Ateneo de Manila University Law School graduating class last year. She is a Batch ’99 St. Scholastica’s Academy-Bacolod alumna, and graduated with highest honors during her elementary and high school days.

She is the daughter of lawyer Roseller “Jack” Maalat and Carissa De Leon, and acquired her English Literature bachelor’s degree from AdeMU where she graduated magna cum laude.

Also among the bar passers are 17 law graduates from University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City – Mercedes Alvarez, Maki-Angel Ascalon, Cesar Beloria, Amy Grace Bolivar, Mariedith Calseña, Ma. Chat Delima, Cecille Garrido, Rosanne Gonzaga, Romeo Justiniani Jr., Jose Manuel Lopez, Sharina Marie Lopingco, Manuel Magbanua Jr., Lady Liza Placido, Ma. Concepcion Rivera, Irish Mae Rodriguez, Roel Bryl Sobrejuanite, and Charo Tupas.

From the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, among those who passed were Karol Joseph Chiu, Woodro Guanzon, Claire Anne Gargarita, and Ragem Ymballa. Data from UNO-R remained incomplete as of press deadline.

The 22.91 percent passing rate of the 2007 bar examination is considered as the fourth lowest result in the last eight years, with the 2002 examination as the lowest in this period at 19.68 percent. Second lowest was in 2003 with 20.17 percent and third was in 2000 at 20.84 percent.

In a press conference in Manila, Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna said the 2007 Bar Committee decided to adjust the passing grade from 75 to 70 percent in three subjects – Civil Law, Criminal Law, and Social Legislation and from 50 to 45 percent on Labor and Civil Law.

The decision to lower the passing grade to 70 percent was due to unusually strict corrections, Azcuna said.

Under the Rules of Court, a bar candidate passed the examination if he or she obtained a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject.

Subjects and corresponding weights are: Remedial Law, 20 percent; Political and International Law, 15 percent; Mercantile Law, 15 percent; Civil Law, 15 percent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 percent; Taxation, 10 percent; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5 percent.*NAB

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