Graduates of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law dominated the 2022 Bar examinations, claiming all top 5 spots and the most number of topnotchers from any school.
UP Law Batch 2022 valedictorian Czar Matthew Dayday topped all examinees with a score of 88.81%, followed by batchmates Erickson Mariñas who got 88.77%, Christiane Claire Cregencia who got 87.97%, class salutatorian Andrea Jasmine Yu who got 87.78%, and Kim Gia Gatapia who got 87.43%.
Six more UP Law graduates made it to the top 30. They are Jayvy Gamboa at 13th place, Sharlene Ann Joson at 15th, Luis Gabriel Arevalo at 17th, Joji Marie Salaver at 23rd, Aaron Daryl Marquez at 28th, and Patricia Marie Ignacio at 30th.
The 11 topnotchers from UP join their other 199 schoolmates who also passed the Bar. Overall, UP Law recorded a 95.02% passing rate.
In a message of congratulations to the graduates, UP Diliman Chancellor and Law Dean Edgardo Carlo Vistan II expressed pride and joy in their success.
“Your individual and collective success in hurdling the last test on your way to admission to the legal profession is truly inspiring and fills our community with pride and joy,” Vistan said.
“Let this milestone of yours mark not only a hard-earned achievement but also a turning point in your lives when you become lawyers that serve society by upholding justice, protecting fundamental rights, and contributing to its progress in these challenging times,” he continued.
In his message to the University’s Bar passers, UP President Angelo Jimenez reminded them of their moral obligation to the Filipino people.
“This highly subsidized education that we are enjoying was paid for by the lives of others [who are] more needy than us—but, they are giving this freely—because they have great expectations that our best and the brightest will serve them, will become tools of national progress and development and prosperity and justice for all,” he said.
Jimenez urged them to use their education to serve the country and become agents of progress and development.
“I hope and I trust that you will not fail them in the great endeavors that you will soon be undertaking in your life,” he added.
According to the Supreme Court (SC), there are 3,992 passers out of 9,183 examinees in last year’s Bar exams, translating to a passing rate of 43.47%.
SC Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa congratulated the successful examinees.
“The Court commends each Bar candidate who successfully scaled what time and again has proven to be a Herculean battery of exams. Congratulations as well to the families and supportive communities of the Bar candidates for through your love, this victory is certainly shared with you,” Caguioa said.
He also offered words of encouragement to those who did not make the list, reminding them that the Bar exams can never approximate their true worth.
“The Bar examinations cannot begin to, nor will it ever measure, the weight of your convictions, the strength of your courage, the depths of your compassion, and the height of your dream,” he said.
Caguioa also emphasized the importance of upholding the spirit of the law.
“May your new success be but a door that opens to ever-meaningful opportunities for you to breathe life to the law in a way that is consistent with its spirit and in a manner that brings hope to the people and honor to your country which would well and truly give this accomplishment what perhaps may be its highest worth.”
The next Bar exams will be held in September, according to 2023 Bar Chairman SC Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando.
