The Supreme Court yesterday announced that 183 out of 853 examinees, or 21.45 percent, passed the first digitalized and regionalized special exams for the Shari’ah courts.     

The top ten passers are PUNGINAGINA, Nurhaifah Hadji Said (86.75%); GUBAT, Sittie  Nasriyyah Gani  (86.10%); ALONTO, Sittie Fairoza Yahya (86.02%); SUWALAWAN-HADJINOOR, Jonaina Diamla (85.57%); MAMBUAY, Ayesha Aminah Alonto (85.35%); USODAN, Fatimah Sohra Lucman (85.10%); ACMAD, Aznairah Orpilla (84.87%); BARAPANGCAT,  Abdulwasi Aleem (84.40%); ABDULMALIK, Saaduddin Sharief (84.30%); AL-NAMIT; Maria Belen Arceno (83.75%); and SAID, Normalah Pangcoga (83.75%).    

The 2024 SBE  examiners are Dean  Norhabib  Bin  Suod  S.  Barodi (Persons,  Family  Relations and  Property);  Atty.  Yaser  H.  Apion  (Jurisprudence [Fiqh] and Customary Laws [Adat]); Judge Macaundas M. Hadjirasul (Procedure in  Shari’ah  Courts); and  Judge  Jamel  T.  Mamutuk  (Succession, Wills/Adjudication and Settlement of Estate).   

Justice Filomena Singh, likewise, announced that the Oath Taking and Roll Signing Ceremonies of the  successful SBE passers will be held on 14 August  2024 at the Manila Hotel.   

The 2024 SBE were held last 28 April and 2 May in the two local testing centers: the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City and the University of the Philippines  Diliman  in  Quezon  City.  Similar to  the regular Bar  Examinations, the  2024  SBE  adopted the use  of  the  computer-based  program  Examplify, which the examinees used to take the tests digitally in their respective testing centers.  

The  subjects  on  Day  1  were  Jurisprudence  (Fiqh)  and  Customary  Laws (Adat)  [15%]  and  Persons,  Family  Relations,  and  Property  [35%],  while  the subject  on  Day  2  were  Succession,  Wills/Adjudication,  and  Settlement  of Estates [35%] and Procedure in the Shari’ah Courts [15%   

Justice  Singh,  who  visited  the  testing  centers  to  personally  monitor  the conduct  of  SBE  on  both  examination  dates,  had  earlier  highlighted  the significant achievements of the 2024 SBE:  Firstly,  it  is  the  first  time  that  the SBE is being chaired by a sitting  Member of  the Supreme Court;  second,  this year’s  SBE  marked  the  beginning  of  the  yearly  conduct  of  the  said examinations, instead of being held only every other  year;  third, the Supreme Court,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  National  Commission  on  Muslim  Filipinos (NCMF), will henceforth conduct the Shari’ah Training Seminar (STS), which is a requirement for those who intend to take the SBE; fourth, the 2024 SBE was the first to be conducted in a regionalized and digitalized format; and fifth, the Court,  furthering  its  goal  of  expanding  access,  allowed  overseas  Filipino workers  from  the  Kingdom of  Saudi  Arabia, who previously expressed  interest in participating in the STS and in taking the 2024 SBE, to join the STS online and take the examinations in-country, with financial assistance from the Court.   

The  next  SBE  will be  held  in  2025  and  will  be  chaired  by  Associate Justice  Antonio  T.  Kho,  Jr.