‘BEATING ALL ODDS’: Food vendors’ daughter passes 2022 Bar Exam

By John Noel E. Herrera

A daughter of food vendors in Lambunao, Iloilo proved that nothing is impossible with hope and determination after passing the 2022 Bar Exam.

Maria Joan Mecono, who graduated from the Central Philippine University College of Law in 2021, could not contain her happiness knowing that she is now a lawyer after the Supreme Court released the results of the 2022 Bar Exam on Friday, April 14, 2023.

In a Facebook post, Mecono proudly told the public that she is a daughter of ‘carinderia’ or eatery owners and thanked her parents for the sacrifices they made to support her studies.

“Ladies and gents, I am the youngest daughter of Mr. Paterno Amid Mecano (kilala niyo ni tanan kay amo ni may pinakanamit carinderia sa Lambunao) and late Maria Flordeliza Magallardo Collado (kilala niyo man ni gabaligya saging sa tinda kag duru-duru dya anay manugsukot nga bombay), Juris Doctor, and I just hurdled the bar,” Mecono said.

“Thank you will never be enough to express my gratitude to all those who helped me on my journey. For now, I cannot drop your names one by one, but I will try my best to do so soon,” she added.

Mecano noted that she never uploaded her graduation photo in 2021 and didn’t consider herself a graduate until she just passed the exam.

“I was always urged by my introvert x extrovert self to have this portrait as my profile pic, but I just had so much patience to wait for this day to come. After all, I never considered myself a ‘graduate’ until today,” she said.

She shared that she was not able to get the exam in 2021, but “all the wait is all worth it and God’s plan is magical” as she passed the exam this year.

To her fellow takers this year who didn’t pass, Mecano stressed that they should not lose hope as “God makes everything happen in His time.”

The Supreme Court announced that a total of 3,992 out of 9,183 takers passed the 2022 Bar Examinations.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin said that the data is equivalent to 43.47 percent of the total 9,183 law graduates who took the Bar exams last November 9, 13, 16, and 20 last year in various testing centers in the country.

The number is 28.81 percent lower compared to the 72.28 percent passing average during the 2021 Bar Exam.

Benjamin added that the oath-taking and roll-signing of successful examinees would be on May 2, 2023.