The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has hired 225 lawyers to enhance its legal services, particularly to the poor and the underprivileged persons nationwide.
The newly hired lawyers will take their oaths of office on Wednesday, July 6, PAO Chief Persida V. Rueda Acosta said.
Acosta started conducting on Monday, July 4, a three-day orientation for the newly hired lawyers at the Bayview Park Hotel Manila.
“Prove to the Filipino people that every cent you will be receiving as your salary, as your allowances will not be put into a waste basket,” Acosta challenged them.
She stressed that the newly hired lawyers should become “efficient, effective, law abiding and God-fearing public attorneys of the Republic of the Philippines.”
“Under Republic Act No. 9406, the Chief Public Attorney is the appointing authority of all PAO lawyers and staff nationwide except Presidential appointees such as the deputy chief public attorneys and the regional public attorneys,” she said.
Also, Acosta said 57 PAO lawyers have been promoted and have taken their oaths.
She said PAO intends to hire about 400 lawyers from those who passed the 2020-2021 bar examinations.
There are 2,328 lawyers working for PAO in its offices all over the country.