The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) should focus on defending cases involving indigent litigants instead of prosecuting other cases, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said on Friday, Feb. 10.
“Isa lang po ang aking hinihiling sa PAO ngayon, ‘wag na ho tayo magprosecute ng cases (I ask only one thing from PAO now, don’t prosecute cases anymore),” Remulla said during the 70th founding anniversary celebration of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).
“Mag-defend na lang po tayo ng mga destitute clients para lahat po may abugado at matapos lahat ng kaso (Just defend destitute clients so that they can have lawyers and finish all cases),” he said.
He assured he has “nothing against” Chief Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, head of PAO which is an attached agency of the DOJ. “Mahusay po si (she is good) Chief Public Attorney Persida Acosta,” he also said.
Among the prominent cases that the PAO is currently pursuing are the reported deaths and injuries incurred by persons, mostly children, who were inoculated by Dengvaxia, an anti-dengue vaccine.
Acosta had earlier aired her dismay on how the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service (NPS) has handled the Dengvaxia cases.
Last year, Acosta filed a motion before the Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) and sought the inhibition of the DOJ’s NPA in the handling of the Dengvaxia cases. She pleaded to have the cases handled by the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
At the time the motion was filed, Acosta expressed her suspicion that DOJ Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes T. Andres, who has supervision over the NPS, had a hand in the dismissal of the 24 Dengvaxia complaints at the DOJ last year.
She sought the resignation of Andres who was the former lawyer of then Health Secretary and current Iloilo First District Rep. Janette L. Garin who is among those sued in the Dengvaxia cases.
In 2017, then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II directed Acosta to “extend free legal assistance in civil, criminal and administrative cases to all possible victims of Dengvaxia related injuries, illnesses and deaths.”
The PAO, on behalf of the families of the victims, had filed criminal complaints before the DOJ involving 156 alleged victims of the Dengvaxia vaccine.
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