It was a rare gathering of the most distinguished champions of the Philippine legal landscape. And rightly so, as history has been made on this day!
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University memorialized the 2020-2021 Bar Examinations through the Unveiling of the Historical Marker ceremony last August 25, 2022, 2:30 PM at the Multi-Purpose Hall, 5th Floor, Saavedra Building, Salvador Campus, La Purisima.
The 2021 Bar Examination has been a truly unique and groundbreaking endeavor. It was the first time the exams have been localized and digitalized. Procedures and protocols were reevaluated, re-calibrated, and made more effective. This ensured a more advanced, accessible, and compassionate conduct of the bar exams. And all these were made possible even amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Thus, it was with utmost honor for the Ateneo de Zamboanga University to have hosted the 2021 Bar Examinations last February. AdZU’s Rosendo U Castillo Jr College of Law is a fledgling law school, but it has achieved so much in such a short span of time. Through the efforts of its founding dean and its succeeding administrators, sturdy partnerships were formed – links connecting the University to other important establishments, from the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the Local Government, and sister institutions.
The success of the 2021 Bar Examinations has set an unprecedented standard and is now a blueprint to future bar examinations, especially in Western Mindanao and its neighboring areas. Gracing the event was no less than the 27th Chief Justice of the Philippines, Chief Justice Alexander G Gesmundo together with Justice Marvic Mario Victor F Leonen, the Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and Justice Antonio T Kho, Jr, the Associate Justice of the Supreme of the Philippines. The highest officials of Zamboanga City local government and representatives from other important sectors and institutions also joined in the banquet. The 2021 Bar Exams is just the first of many.
With this historical event set in stone, AdZU moves its sights on the next conduct of this examinations projected to be held this coming November. This is a special birthday gift to the founding dean and the school’s namesake, Attorney Rosendo “Junie” Castillo, Jr. Through the guidance of St Ignatius of Loyola and the grace of the Almighty, we envision another successful bar examination next year, continuing to serve our attorney-hopefuls in bringing their dream of becoming Ignatian lawyers closer and within reach.
