SC holds review coach in contempt over false info on 2023 Bar Exams

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The Supreme Court (SC) has found a review coach guilty of indirect contempt for claiming that the 2023 Bar Examinations will be checked by artificial intelligence (AI).

In an 11-page decision, the SC En Banc directed the Office of the Bar Confidant to delist the individual from the list of bar passers and fined him P30,000.

The SC also warned him from further engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

“Clearly, [he] unlawfully interfered in the conduct of the 2023 Bar Examinations, a court-sanctioned activity, by peddling false information and causing alarm and panic among the examinees,” it said.

“His irresponsible and baseless post that the AI will do the sorting and checking undermined the integrity not only of the bar examinations but likewise of the SC itself, which has the overall supervision and control over the examinations,” it added.

According to the court, the Facebook accounts of Bar Law for Dummies and Tsidkenu Dizon posted in September 2023 that the 2023 Bar Examinations shall be “sorted, checked, and corrected by means of AI.”

The SC said the posts went viral and caused panic and anxiety among the examinees.

Following this, it issued an advisory condemning the posts as false, baseless, irresponsible, and defamatory, among others.

The court said that instead of taking the posts down, the individual sought the attention of the media.

“It has not escaped the Court’s attention that [he] did not express any remorse in disrupting and degrading the 2023 Bar Examinations,” it said.

“On the contrary, he manifested excessive audacity as to even demand an apology from the Court within 24 hours from the airing of his interview and even threatened the Court with a suit,” it added.

In emails that he requested to be forwarded to the Office of the 2023 Bar Chair, the individual claimed he was devastated and that the advisory had a “chilling effect” on him.

He also denied spreading misinformation, saying he did not state that AI would correct the examinations.

The individual, who failed to take the oath even after passing the Bar Exams, also denied that he practices law.

He said that his Bar Law for Dummies Training Program is not styled as a bar review school but only seeks to coach applicants on the process or style of answering questions.

In its ruling, the SC said that as a bar passer, the individual should know that a committee of bar examiners oversees the conduct of the examinations.

“The Court is not persuaded by [his] contention that he used the word ‘to help’ in his post and that he did not mention at all that the AI will do the sorting, checking, or correction,” it said.

The SC cited a portion of the post, which read: “Always start with yes or no. Yan ang unang hahanapin ng AI Checking to sort out the correct answers.”

(Always start with yes or no. That’s the first thing AI Checking will look for to sort out the correct answers.)

“This is res ipsa logitur. Dizon clearly and categorically mentioned that the AI will do the checking and sorting of the examinees' answers,” it said.

Further, the court said that providing coaching lessons to bar flunkers or reviewees requires the application of legal knowledge.