The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) wants government to increase its budget for the current pool of lawyers who are giving legal assistance to indigent parties.
PAO chief Persida Acosta made this suggestion to Senator Raffy Tulfo when she paid a courtesy call to the senator at his Senate office Wednesday, Aug. 3.
Tulfo said he would cooperate with the agency to help them serve more Filipinos.
“Gagawin natin ang ating makakaya para madagdagan ang budget ng PAO (We will do all what we can to increase PAO’s budget). Kahit ano man ang matutulong ng tanggapan ko, gagawin natin (Whatever my office can do to help, we will do it),” he said.
Malacañang is reportedly set to submit to Congress on Aug. 22 the proposed 2023 national budget, which is unlikely to be higher than the current P5.024-trillion budget for 2022.
Tulfo said he had observed that no lawyer stays for long at PAO.
‘’They just get experience and later leave. They are overwhelmed by their work load. The ideal is one PAO lawyer for every court,’’ he added.
According to Acosta, the current count of 2,400 lawyers nationwide under PAO is not enough, stressing that all of them are overworked.
“Overworked sila (They are overworked). After five years, nagfifiscal na sila or nagja-judge (After five years, they become fiscals or judges) . Lumilipat kasi napapagod (They leave because they are overworked),” Acosta said.
PAO is the agency assigned to extend free legal assistance to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative, and other quasi-judicial cases.
While the PAO lawyers are lacking in number, Tulfo said he hopes that the public lawyers would ensure that the indigent parties would get the justice that they deserve.
Tulfo thanked Acosta for PAO’s consistent swift action on several cases his show, “Wanted sa Radyo,” referred to the agency.