(Updated 9:50 p.m.) Reinier Paul Yebra of the San Beda College of Law led the 1,451 passers of the 2009 Bar Exams. This year's passing rate was 24.5 percent of the total 5,903 examinees. Yebra got a score of 84.88.

Coming in at second place was Charlene Mae Tapic, also from San Beda College of Law, with a score of 84.60.

(Out of the 5,903 law graduates who took the 2009 bar exams in the Philippines, only 1,451 passed while 4,452 didn’t, for a total passing rate of 24.58 per cent.)

The complete list of names of the passers was released shortly before 10 p.m. Friday and read out by Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, chair of the 2009 Committee on Bar Examinations.

Nachura said that the passing rate was lowered from 75 percent to 71 percent, while the disqualification grade in Taxation has been lowered from 49 percent to 45 percent.

The high court conducts the Bar exams annually in accordance with Section 5(5), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, which gives the SC the power to “promulgate rules concerning … the admission to the practice of law."

The oathtaking of Bar passers will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center on April 28 at 2 p.m.

The Bar passers may secure their clearances from the Office of the Bar Confidant during beginning April 5 to April 28, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, the SC said.

The 2009 Bar examinations were administered through Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Atty. Ma. Cristina B. Layusa.

Traditionally, the Bar exams are held on four consecutive Sundays of September, but the high court had to reset the last exam Sunday in 2009 to October 4 due to widespread flooding caused by tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana).

Last year’s examinations also marked the first time the two-examiners-per-subject policy was implemented. Each of the eight Bar exam subjects was divided into two parts, with a designated examiner assigned to a specific scope.