Passing the bar is not enough. It is never the measure of the decency, honesty, integrity and intelligence of a lawyer.
Set a decade after the events in the original film Bar Boys (2017) , the sequel Bar Boys After School (2025) follows best friends Atty. Erik Vicencio (Carlo Aquino), Atty. Torran Garcia (Rocco Nacino), Atty. Chris Carlson (Enzo Pineda) and Joshua Zuñiga (Kean Cipriano) as they grapple with the continuous search for meaning in their careers and personal lives.
“Okey ka lang?” is the recurring line in this Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) film entry as they confront their life choices, and find new roles as mentors to the next generation of law students Sassa Gurl, Will Ashley, and Therese Malvar who are dealing with the same systemic pressures.
Written and directed by Kip Oebanda, the film shows how they are rediscovering and navigating their careers while caring for their sick former professor, Justice Hernandez (Odette Khan).
Khan made history for winning Best Supporting Actress for the same role as Justice Hernandez in the two different films released in 2017 and 2025.
Some of her memorable lines include “lawyers are invisible by design”, “integrity is the courage to be disliked”, “maybe the point of life is not to win or lose, but to experience life. “
More than the arduous reality of the legal world, the sequel focuses on friendship and purpose.. The film was adapted into a stage musical in 2024.
Among the characters, I emphatize with Arvin (Ashley) being a working student myself .
Arvin is a working student who balances a grueling job as a service worker with law school. Together with his OFW mother, they are the breadwinners of the extended family. He tried to remain strong, determined to give himself and his family a shot at a better future.
“To get to where I am, doble ‘yung pagod, doble ‘yung puyat, doble ‘yung self-doubt ko. ‘Yung ibang students, kain, aral, tulog, ako hindi. ‘Yung ibang service workers na nagtatrabaho gaya ko, nagco-commute nang dalawang oras tapos hihilata na. Ako, nagtitimpla pa lang ng kape kasi magsisimula pa lang ang araw ko,” Ashley’s lines that best exemplify the struggle of a working student.
I belong to the working student program of UP College of Law as a reporter for a major broadsheet and other international news agencies. I do my coverage during the day then attend my evening classes. I read my cases in the bus on the way home to Las Piñas from Diliman, always looking for the seat with the strongest headlight.
In both films, a character failed the bar exam in their first take: Nacino n the original and Ashley in the sequel.
“Grieve and take the bar exam again” is the advice given by 2020/21 bar exam chairman Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen to the 3,549 who did not make it for the passers list.
“Accept it as a challenge. That you did not make it does not constitute you. You are who you choose to be. Persevere, as always. Inspire by getting back on your feet and accomplish more.” Leonen said.
Former nationalist Claro M. Recto took the bar in 1913 and failed first attempt. He later passed the 1914 bar exam. Yet he rose to become congressman, commissioner of education, senator and later associate justice of the Supreme Court.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt failed in his first New York Bar exam.
The bar exam is a yearly spectacle on the performance of law schools measured on the most number of topnotchers or scoring the highest passing rate.
I was among the lucky 1,465 examinees who passed, or 39.63 percent out of the 3,697 examinees of the 1998 bar exams held in DLSU.
The bar exams is considered one of the toughest and most difficult among the professional board exams, having one of the highest mortality rate. Ultimately, being a good lawyer is a different thing.
“Serve the people. Do not betray your humanity.” Justice Leonen said in one of his twitter postings. “ Discover your passion. Be patient and compassionate”.
There are those who join law offices for private practice, the government, judiciary, politics, the academe while others go into alternative lawyering.
Aquino’s character deals with the difficult work of defending marginalized people, showing his resilience and commitment to empowerment and greater access to justice, a continuation from his underdog journey in the first film.
His practice is considered alternative lawyering that is guided by the words of former President Ramon Magsaysay: “Those who have less in life should have more in law.”
Lawyers, as professionals, are expected to uphold the ethical and moral values that are said to be essential to the fabric that holds society together.
“Honor and Excellence. Ours is a noble profession. Make that a reality,” Leonen added.
We have different journeys to become legal professionals. In the end, it’s who you become that ultimately matter.
(Peyups is the moniker of the Universiity of the Philippines Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, email info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09088665786)
