RIVERMAN’S VISTA: The bar results and their significance to Mindanao

(MindaNews / 08 January) — When the Supreme Court released the 2025 Bar Examination results yesterday, revealing that 5,594 out of 11,425 examinees had passed, the headlines naturally focused on the improved 48.98% passing rate. But here in Mindanao, we should be asking a different question: What do these numbers mean for our region’s future?

The answer is both encouraging and challenging.

Ateneo de Davao: excellence personified

Before discussing broader implications, I must pause to celebrate an extraordinary achievement: Ateneo de Davao University College of Law has once again achieved a 100% passing rate. Not for the first time, but for many consecutive years now. This is a feat unmatched by any law school in the country.

This isn’t luck. This is sustained excellence.

Under the leadership of Dean Manny Quibod, himself a distinguished human rights lawyer, Ateneo de Davao has established itself as the premier legal education institution in the Philippines. Dean Quibod’s commitment to both academic rigor and social justice permeates the institution. 

Supported by by Fr. Joel Tabora SJ and Fr. Karel San Juan, former and current ADDU presidents respectively, Dean Manny has built a law school that doesn’t just produce lawyers who can pass exams (though they clearly excel at that) but lawyers who understand that the profession exists to serve the vulnerable and defend human dignity.

The Ateneo de Davao model proves something crucial: excellence and social commitment aren’t contradictory. You can maintain the highest standards while producing lawyers dedicated to human rights, environmental justice, and public service.

I’m proud to have as our senior law partner at La Viña Zarate and Associates former Bayan Muna Representative Kaloi Zarate, an Ateneo de Davao alumnus who exemplifies everything that institution represents. Kaloi combines sharp legal analysis with unwavering commitment to the marginalized. He is proof that Ateneo de Davao doesn’t just teach law; it forms lawyers in the fullest sense, professionals who understand that technical competence must serve justice. Our firm maintains an office in Cagayan de Oro and we’re planning to expand to Butuan and Davao, bringing people’s lawyering closer to the communities that need it most.

That Mindanao hosts the nation’s top-performing law school says something profound about our region’s capacity for excellence. For too long, Manila-centric narratives have dominated discussions of Philippine legal education. Ateneo de Davao’s consistent performance demolishes those narratives. The best legal education in the country is happening right here in Mindanao.

Building legal education in our island

Ateneo de Davao’s success doesn’t stand alone. Across Mindanao, dedicated legal educators are building institutions of excellence. I’m particularly proud of my former students in the San Beda Graduate School of Law who lead law schools in our region: Dean Genevieve Marie Dolores Brandares-Paulino of Cor Jesu College, Dean Manuel Cabrera of Liceo de Cagayan, Dean Norhabib Bin Suod Barodi of the Mindanao State University College of Law, and Dean Paisal Diaz Tanjili of Notre Dame of Marbel University (NDMU) in Koronadal City. All these law schools did very well in the 2025 bar, producing hundreds of new lawyers,

They have taken on the challenging work of legal education with dedication and vision. They understand that running a law school in Mindanao isn’t just about teaching cases and statutes; it’s about forming lawyers who will serve communities that desperately need legal services. Their leadership ensures that Mindanao continues to expand access to quality legal education beyond the major urban centers.

When former students become deans, it signals something important about the continuity of values and commitment. Deans Brandares-Paulino, Cabrera, Barodi, and Tanjili carry forward a tradition of excellence while adapting to Mindanao’s unique needs. Their institutions contribute to the critical mass of lawyers our region requires.

Mindanao’s excellence extends beyond institutional achievement to individual brilliance. Gerilin Ano-Os Gascon from Bukidnon State University ranked 14th in this year’s bar examinations with a score of 89.79, proving once again that legal talent flourishes throughout our region. This success represents not just personal achievement but validation of Mindanao’s capacity to produce lawyers who can compete at the highest levels.

Bukidnon State University deserves recognition for producing a top performer. This achievement demonstrates that excellence in legal education isn’t confined to the traditionally dominant institutions. State universities across Mindanao are forming lawyers of exceptional quality, expanding access to legal education while maintaining rigorous standards.

When a Mindanawon places among the top bar performers, it sends a powerful message: our region doesn’t merely participate in Philippine legal discourse but excels in it. Gascon joins a proud tradition of Mindanao lawyers who have shaped our nation’s legal landscape.

As someone born and raised in Cagayan de Oro, a Mindanawon through and through, I take special pride in seeing our region’s legal professionals achieve this level of recognition. It reflects not just individual brilliance but the deep intellectual traditions that exist throughout Mindanao.

A fair bar for Mindanao

Beyond individual institutional achievements, the most significant development in these bar results isn’t the passing rate itself (though that deserves discussion) but rather the continuation of reforms that directly benefit Mindanawons. For the first time in our legal history, aspiring lawyers across the archipelago can take the bar examinations in their own regions, at 14 testing centers nationwide, using digital platforms that level the playing field.

This seemingly administrative detail represents a profound shift in access to justice.

Consider what previous generations of Mindanao lawyers endured. A fresh graduate from Marawi, Cotabato, or General Santos faced not just the intellectual challenge of the bar exams but a logistical gauntlet: relocating to Manila months in advance, securing accommodation in an unfamiliar city, draining family resources that could exceed two hundred thousand pesos, and preparing for the most important examination of their lives while separated from everyone and everything that provided emotional support.

This was more than inconvenience. It was a hidden tax on provincial lawyers, a structural barrier that had nothing to do with legal competence and everything to do with geography and economic capacity.

Associate Justice Amy Lazaro Javier, as Bar Chairperson, deserves recognition for institutionalizing these reforms. When she retires in November, she leaves the profession fairer than she found it.

The near-50% passing rate will generate controversy. Some will argue it represents declining standards. I disagree fundamentally.

Throughout my teaching career, I have maintained that licensure examinations should produce passing rates between 40% and 60%, comparable to those for engineers, physicians, and accountants. The bar exam exists to certify minimum competence for professional practice, not to identify legal geniuses or create artificial scarcity.

For Mindanao, this distinction matters enormously.

Our region faces a lawyer shortage that directly impacts justice delivery. Rural municipalities lack legal services. Indigenous communities struggle to defend ancestral domains without adequate representation. Peace processes require legal expertise that simply isn’t available in sufficient numbers. When we artificially restrict the number of lawyers through punishing passing rates of 20% or 25%, we don’t elevate the profession. We deprive communities of essential services.

The archipelago’s 115 million citizens need legal representation. Mindanao’s particular circumstances (its diversity, ongoing peace-building, Indigenous Peoples’ rights issues, land conflicts, and development challenges) create even more acute demands for legal professionals.

A call to serve

For the new lawyers returning to Mindanao, particularly those from Ateneo de Davao, Bukidnon State University, Cor Jesu College, Liceo de Cagayan, Mindanao State University, and other regional institutions, you face extraordinary opportunities. Our region is simultaneously building peace, asserting autonomy, protecting indigenous rights, pursuing sustainable development, and addressing historical injustices. Each of these challenges requires legal expertise.

The work ahead is both urgent and daunting. Cases like the Talaingod 13 remind us that indigenous peoples and those who defend their rights face ongoing persecution and criminalization. Lumad schools, which provide culturally appropriate education to indigenous communities, continue to face attacks and closure threats. These communities need lawyers who understand not just legal technicalities but the lived realities of marginalized peoples.

Organizations like the Samdhana Institute and the Mindanao Climate Justice Resource Facility are doing groundbreaking work on environmental justice and climate adaptation in Mindanao. They need lawyers who can translate community needs into legal frameworks, who can defend environmental rights, and who can help build just transitions for communities affected by climate change. This is the frontier of legal practice in our region, where human rights, environmental law, and social justice converge.

To all new Mindanao lawyers, I extend an invitation: consider joining the Union of Peoples Lawyers for Mindanao (UPLM). This organization brings together lawyers committed to public interest work, human rights advocacy, and serving communities that have historically been denied justice. My law partner Kaloi Zarate, Dean Manny Quibod, and many other principled lawyers have found in UPLM a community that supports and sustains their commitment to social justice lawyering. Dean Quibod’s own membership in UPLM demonstrates that people’s lawyering and academic excellence go hand in hand.

But Mindanao desperately needs lawyers willing to work in the trenches: defending farmers threatened with displacement, representing Indigenous Peoples fighting for ancestral domains, providing legal aid to unjustly accused like the Talaingod 13, protecting Lumad schools, documenting human rights violations, working on climate justice, and building legal frameworks for genuine peace.

For Mindanao’s new lawyers especially: welcome to the profession. Your region has waited for you. Organizations like the Union of Peoples Lawyers for Mindanao, the Samdhana Institute, and the Mindanao Climate Justice Resource Facility stand ready to support you in choosing the path of people’s lawyering. Indigenous communities facing persecution need you. Lumad schools under threat need you. Communities confronting climate injustice need you.

Don’t make us wait much longer. Mindanao needs you now.

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Dean Antonio Gabriel La Viña is Associate Director of Manila Observatory where he heads the Klima Center. He is also a professor of law, philosophy, politics and governance in several universities. He has been a human rights lawyer for 35 years and a member of the Free Legal Assistance Group. He is currently the managing partner of La Viña Zarate and Associates, a development and social change progressive law firm that provides legal assistance to the youth student sector, Lumad and other Indigenous Peoples, desaparecidos and their families, political detainees, communities affected by climate and environmental justice, etc. Dean Tony is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and Chair of the Jurisprudence and Legal Philosophy Department of the Philippine Judicial Academy. He is founding president of the Movement Against Disinformation and the founding chairs of the Mindanao Climate Justice Resource Facility and the Mindanao Center for Scholarships, Sports, and Spirituality).]