Cebu City enforces strict measures for Bar examinations

Local

BAR exam days in Cebu will mean dry nights and quiet streets.

This comes as the city government clamps down on liquor, noise, and public drunkenness around the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Basak Campus.

Mayor Nestor Archival Sr. ordered the measures under an executive order, which sets a 100-meter liquor ban zone around USJ-R, Cebu City’s designated testing site for this year’s Bar Examinations.

The ban takes effect from 9:00 p.m. the night before each exam and will last until 10:00 p.m. on exam day, covering September 7 (Sunday), September 10 (Wednesday), and September 14 (Sunday).

“The City Government is committed to ensuring a successful conduct of the 2025 Bar Examinations. At the request of the Supreme Court, the City Government has agreed to impose a liquor ban for the orderly and smooth conduct of the exams,” Archival stated in the EO.

Alcohol consumption will be prohibited in all public areas within the perimeter. Businesses such as hotels, resorts, restaurants, convenience stores, and sari-sari stores are not allowed to serve or permit drinking during the ban.

The sale of alcoholic beverages, however, remains allowed, so long as consumption happens outside the restricted zone.

The Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) is tasked to map out all affected establishments and circulate the official list to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, and Enhancement (PROBE) Office, and barangays Basak Pardo and Quiot Pardo for enforcement.

Archival’s order also directs agencies to strictly enforce City Ordinance No. 512 against public drunkenness and City Ordinance No. 309, the city’s Anti-Noise Ordinance.

“These measures are necessary to provide a quiet, orderly environment for examinees,” the mayor said.

The Supreme Court has tapped 14 Local Testing Centers (LTCs) nationwide for the 2025 Bar. In the Visayas, the designated venues are USJ-R Basak (Cebu City), the Dr. V. Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation (Tacloban City), and Central Philippine University (Iloilo City).

The SC, through Bar Bulletin 3 signed by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, said the selection of regional venues aims to cut costs for provincial examinees and allow them to stay closer to family and support systems during the high-stakes exams.

This year’s Bar will be held on September 7, 10, and 14, 2025. (TGP)