By Benjamin Pulta | Philippine News Agency
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said the Bar examinations’ scores are sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act and cannot be disclosed without prior consent of the examinees.
The Guidelines on Requests for Disclosure of a Law School’s Bar Examinations Performance take effect immediately, the Court said in a news release ahead of the release of the 2024 Bar results on Dec. 13.
Under the guidelines, the SC may approve requests from law schools for Bar exams’ scores, as long as the scores are aggregated, averaged, or anonymized and do not identify any individual exam taker.
Permissible data include the number or percentage of the law school’s graduates categorized by type (new examinees, previous takers, refreshers); number or percentage of graduates within specific score ranges; average score of all graduates in each Bar subject; and overall average general weighted average for law schools with multiple examinees.
Additionally, anonymized scores of each Bar taker, with all identifiers removed, are also permitted.
These types of information are not considered personal information under Republic Act No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act) and may be disclosed.
In April 2023, the University of the Philippines College of Law requested the tribunal for data detailing scores of its graduates for each Bar subject during that year’s examinations after the school constituted a committee to study the performance of its graduates.
The scores of the graduates will be supposedly used in formulating policy interventions to improve or enhance their performance in succeeding Bar exams.
Bar Examinations 2023 chair Justice Paul Hernando informed the SC en banc that any disclosure must be implemented with due regard to and full compliance with the law.
In a report dated July 26, 2023, the SC Data Protection Officer recommended the denial of the request and similar requests without the bar taker’s consent and the issuance of a resolution for the guidance of the office of the Bar confidant on the data that can be included in the report on a law school’s performance.
