2026 Bar Exams Kick Off Across Philippines With Over 13,000 Aspirants

MANILA, Philippines — The first day of the three-day 2026 Bar examinations in local testing centers across the country began on Sunday, Sept. 6. A total of 13,441 applicants are expected to take the exam across 15 local testing centers nationwide, according to the Supreme Court. “This is not a test for the weak,” Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, 2026 Bar exam chairperson, told examinees. “Yet you are here, not by chance, but by choice, because you believe in the power of your purpose.” “The decision to pursue a career in law is not one made lightly. It has cost you years of your life and pieces of yourself you may never get back,” Gaerlan said. “Your time is NOW.” The Bar exams used to be centralized in Manila, but local testing centers have since been designated nationwide: seven in Metro Manila, three in Luzon, three in Visayas, and two in Mindanao. Earlier, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso inspected the premises of the University of Santo Tomas, one of the main testing centers in Metro Manila, before the exams began. Domagoso said 180 police officers were deployed in UST, while another 168 were assigned to secure San Beda University, also a testing center. The mayor said that “everything is in place.” “I hope they could all become lawyers,” Domagoso said. “Our country needs more lawyers.” An examinee must obtain a general average of 75 percent, according to the high court, “unless the SC En Banc sets a different passing rate.” The exams will remain digitized, with examinees using their own laptops to access a secure testing application, a practice first introduced in 2021. The exams consist of 20 essay-type questions across six subjects, with a single question per number. This morning, the exam will tackle political and public international law while the afternoon session will have commercial law and taxation. The second and third days of the Bar exams are scheduled on Sept. 9, and 13. On the second day, examinees will take on civil law and land titles and deeds and labor law and social legislation, while the third day will be about criminal law, remedial law, legal and judicial ethics, with practical exercises. In 2025, a total of 5,594 out of 11,420 examinees passed the examinations, for a passing rate of nearly 49 percent. /gsg