Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva wants scholarships for aspiring lawyers.

Villanueva, thus, filed Senate Bill No. 1639 which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 7662, or the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993 by including provisions for the establishment of a Legal Scholarship and Return Service Program (LSRS).

“There is definitely a need for more public defenders in the country as we only have 2,500 Public Attorneys Office (PAO) lawyers and each lawyer handles 5,300 cases per year,” Villanueva said during his acceptance speech at the awarding of his Doctor of Laws degree, Honoris Causa at the Bulacan State University last January 12.

As of 2016, the lawyer to population ratio in the Philippines is higher at one lawyer serving 2,500 Filipinos compared to other jurisdictions like the United States of America with one lawyer serving 248 residents, Italy with one lawyer serving 260 residents and Germany with one lawyer serving 560 residents.

Villanueva said that the program would be similar to the ‘Doktor Para sa Bayan Act’ established under Republic Act 11509, which he principally authored and sponsored last 8th Congress.

“We took inspiration in crafting this measure from our ‘Doktor para sa Bayan Act’ which provides scholarships to deserving students in state universities and colleges and partner private higher education institutions,” he explained.

Under the bill, the LSRS will include the following:

- Free Tuition and other school fee;

- Allowance for prescribed books;

- Clothing or uniform allowance;

- Allowance for dormitory or boarding house accommodation;

- Transportation allowance;

- Bar review fees, including Bar examination application fees;

- Annual medical insurance; and

- Other education-related miscellaneous subsistence or living allowances.

The measure also provides that scholars shall render at least one year of return service for every scholarship year availed of through the PAO or other government offices in need of lawyers and will be granted the appropriate civil service rank, salary and benefits.

Villanueva hopes that through this program more students would be encouraged to pursue law and would uphold the values of truth, fairness and resilience in their work as public defenders.

“For more than two decades, my ideals of public service remain the same. I would like to impart to you these values which were taught to me by my mother and that I hold dear since I joined public service in 2002,” Villanueva said.

The Majority Leader is the first recipient of the Doctor of Laws degree, Honoris Causa from the university.