The Public Attorney’s Office is chronically undermanned, overworked, and underpaid––and they need all the help they can get.
One possible solution, said Rizal Second District Rep. Fidel Nograles, is to mandate the creation of free legal aid programs in law schools around the country “to provide underprivileged Filipinos with legal services they need, but cannot afford.”
“Free legal services such as the Public Attorney’s Office are really overwhelmed by the sheer number of those seeking legal aid.”
“Our Constitution is supposed to guarantee access to justice of the poor by providing free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies, and to ensure that adequate legal assistance is extended to everyone, even the poor,” explained the Ateneo-trained lawyer.
“However the reality on the ground is that state mechanisms that should be providing free legal services such as the Public Attorney’s Office are really overwhelmed by the sheer number of those seeking legal aid. I admire all of them for their selfless work, but it is clear from their workload that we need to find alternative ways to provide poor Filipinos with legal counsel,” added the Harvard graduate.
According to Nograles, who established a free legal aid program for residents of Rizal prior to his election to the House of Representatives, in 2017 alone the PAO handled 11,616,916 indigent clients and a total of 906,251 cases nationwide.
“With just over 2,000 PAO lawyers, this means that on the average each PAO lawyer had to handle 5,794 clients and 458 cases a year. So you can understand why indigent clients sometimes need to look elsewhere to get legal representation,” explained Nograles.
PAO’s caseload, lamented Nograles, is increasing each year, with only marginal increases in the number of PAO lawyers. In 2016, PAO served 8,839,742 indigent clients and handled a total of 850,298 cases nationwide; in 2015, the PAO handled 7,747,735 indigent clients and 848,516 cases nationwide.
“That is a 31% increase in clients between 2016 and 2017 and a 14% increase in clients between 2105 and 2016. Dumadami ang nangangailangan ng abogado taon-taon,” the solon said.
To address this, Nograles said he filed a House bill titled as the “Legal Aid Program Act of 2019.” If enacted into law, all private and government-funded law schools in the country will be required to put up their own respective legal aid programs.
“Free legal services such as the Public Attorney’s Office are really overwhelmed by the sheer number of those seeking legal aid.”
These legal aid programs will be based on a comprehensive national legal aid program that will be established by the Legal Education Board (LEB), under the direction of the Supreme Court, and in coordination with the Department of Justice and Local Government Units, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Law Schools, Association of Law Students in the Philippines, Office of the Legal Aid of the University of the Philippines, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
Under the measure, funding for legal aid programs in state universities and colleges (SUCs) will be supported from the appropriation of said universities and colleges, and will be included in the budgets of the said SUCs.
On the other hand, the LEB will consult with private universities and colleges on how they can efficiently establish legal aid programs in their respective law schools, including tapping government subsidies as allowed by law and obtaining assistance from the private sector.
According to a study conducted by the Ateneo Human Rights Center and Alternative Groups, only 31% of law schools in the country have legal aid programs in place, and that four regions––CAR, ARMM (now BARMM), Regions 1 and 2–– have none at all.
“The need to institutionalize a comprehensive legal aid program, through the creation of legal aid clinics in law schools nationwide is imperative. The development of a comprehensive legal aid program for law schools all over the Philippines would provide the necessary link and coordinate efforts towards access to justice for the marginalized.”