Statistics on the 2014 Bar Examinations
(Part 8)
by
Thads Bentulan
thadsbentulan@gmail.com
Despot
The Examiner is the
absolute despot in the manner of appreciating the examinee’s answer; he can
pass or fail a candidate at his whim, or he can downgrade a perfect answer, at
his caprice.
And the worst
scenario of all, he can execute all these without being accountable for, nor
being subject to, judicial review. The Examiner is more powerful than the
Supreme Court! He is above and beyond certiorari.
Full
time vs. Part time
How can a practicing
lawyer or senior government official, as an examiner, give justice to an
examinee’s notebook by checking 30 essay answers per notebook and correcting 50
notebooks every day without fail for 16 weeks? A retired judge maybe, but for a
working official? The examiner is most likely to take shortcuts in checking,
and that’s the first sign of possible injustice.
While the poor
candidate resigned from his job and spends almost P300,000 just to review and
prepare for the bar for half a year, the exhausted examiner simply skims
through his booklet and gives a round of grade for 50 for his entire notebook,
without individually look at each answer. A grade of 50? How can an examinee
recover from that?
Correction
I have gathered
these from various sources. The correction is a cloak and dagger operation.
Within 10 days after the exams, the Bar Confidant will deliver to the examiner,
personally, at a secret place (not in the Supreme Court premises) and time, 250
answer booklets in a sealed and locked canvass bag. The balance of the 5,000 or
so answer books are kept in a vault in the Supreme Court. One key is given to
the examiner and one key is given to the Bar Confidant. Thus, the answer books
are safe.
The examiner is
given one week to correct 250 notebooks. That’s about 50 per day, or 25 in the
morning and 25 in the afternoon. It’s a very boring, tiring job. Each week, the
examiner will hand over 250 checked notebooks and get 250 more to check. For 10
weeks, that 2,500 and 20 weeks for 5,000 answer books.
Can you imagine
checking 25 answer books every morning and 25 every afternoon for 20 weeks?
That’s close to 5 months of non-stop checking of 50 booklets per day. And don’t
forget each answer book as 30 questions and answers.
Is this sustainable
for a working lawyer or judge? Hardly; even for a retired judge with nothing to
do. Thus, this weakness alone tends to dispense injustice to an examinee’s
answers.
(End of Part 8)
