The Supreme Court (SC) has found a Bar review coach guilty of indirect contempt for falsely claiming on Facebook that artificial intelligence would be used to sort and check answers in the 2023 Bar Examinations.
In a per curiam decision, the SC en banc fined Edgar S. Dizon P30,000 and ordered the removal of his name from the list of 2016 Bar passers.
Dizon, who administered the Facebook group Bar Law for Dummies, was also warned against engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
The case highlighted how unverified claims about the use of AI can disrupt official processes, particularly when circulated through social media to an audience likely to rely on the information.
A post published on Sept. 21, 2023 by the Bar Law for Dummies group and the account Tsidkenu Dizon claimed that the Bar exams would be “sorted, checked, and corrected by means of artificial intelligence (AI).”
It also advised examinees: “ALWAYS START WITH YES or NO. ‘Yan ang unang hahanapin ng AI Checking to sort out the correct answers.”
The Office of the 2023 Bar Chair, headed by SC associate justice Ramon Paul Hernando, investigated the source of the post after it went viral and caused anxiety among examinees who were in the final stages of preparing for the tests.
The office issued an advisory clarifying that answers would be evaluated by four human examiners for each subject. The SC said the examiners were “all warm bodies” and were neither powered nor guided by AI.
Dizon denied claiming that AI would check the examinations, arguing that his post used the words “TO HELP.” The court rejected the explanation, saying the wording clearly represented AI as performing the sorting and checking of answers.
“This is res ipsa loquitur. Dizon clearly and categorically mentioned that the AI will do the checking and sorting of the examinees’ answers,” the SC said.
The tribunal said the viral post forced Bar officials to divert limited time and resources to tracing its source, coordinating with government agencies, issuing clarifications and responding to inquiries. It also distracted examinees and raised doubts about the integrity of the examination process.
“Clearly, Dizon 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,” the court said.
It added that the “irresponsible and baseless post” undermined the integrity of both the examinations and the SC, which supervises admission to the legal profession.
The SC also cited Dizon’s response after the advisory was issued. Instead of removing the post, he gave a media interview in which he threatened to sue the court and demanded a public apology “within 24 hours.” He also sent emails claiming that the advisory had a chilling effect on him.
Dizon passed the 2016 Bar Examinations but had not taken the lawyer’s oath because of pending criminal cases. The court said his conduct of coaching sessions and authorship of review materials covering different Bar subjects required the application of legal knowledge and amounted to unauthorized practice.
In a separate concurring opinion, SC senior associate justice Marvic Leonen agreed that Dizon should be sanctioned for undermining the integrity of the Bar examinations.
Leonen, however, stressed that the court’s contempt power must be balanced against the constitutional right to free speech, including legitimate criticism of courts and judicial proceedings.
The SC decision distinguishes protected criticism from online statements that produce concrete interference with court-administered activities. In Dizon’s case, the court found that the Facebook post went beyond commentary because it spread false operational information and disrupted the conduct of the examinations.
