The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) garnered an 82.69 percent favorable disposition rate with 288,752 out of 349,185 cases successfully resolved in favor of persons it extended legal assistance in 2022.

In its Accomplishment Report for 2022, PAO said that the 288,752 favorably disposed cases included 263,335 criminal cases; 6,289 civil cases; 1,711 administrative cases; 11,089 prosecutor’s office cases; 4,789 labor cases; and 1,539 appealed cases.

Of the 263,335 criminal cases, a total of 26,393 cases resulted in the acquittals of those persons represented by PAO, it said.

The PAO is an attached agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ). It extends free legal assistance to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative and other quasi-judicial cases.

It may also be called upon by proper government authorities to render service to other persons, subject to existing laws, rules, and regulations.

In its report, PAO said that since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the country in 2020, it garnered “a significant increase in the number of favorable dispositions, as well as terminations, in the cases it handles.”

The favorable dispositions of 288,752 cases in 2022 is more than the 222,184 favorable dispositions in 2021 or a 15.98 per cent increase, it said.

“Perhaps, this is due to the gradual loosening of social distancing restrictions because of improving conditions, which allowed the members of the justice sector, including the PAO, to perform their duties more effectively and efficiently,” it explained.

It said it has 2,505 authorized positions for public attorneys compared to the 2,504 organized courts based on data from the Supreme Court (SC) as of May 31, 2022.

It pointed out that the number of courts does not include those of the SC, the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and other quasi-judicial bodies.

The disparity in the ratio of PAO lawyers to number of courts and quasi-judicial bodies “results in the exodus of a number of public attorneys who could no longer withstand the heavy burden of handling cases not only in courts, but also in quasi-judicial bodies,” it lamented.

“To the dismay of most of the public attorneys, whenever Congress creates additional courts, there is no automatic creation by the Department of Budget and Management of additional public attorneys and staff plantilla items as counterpart thereof,” it added.

It reminded that under Republic Act 9406 or the PAO Law, “there shall be a corresponding number of public attorney's positions at the ratio of one public attorney to an organized sala and the corresponding administrative and support staff thereto.”

With the expanded mandate of the PAO, it is imperative to assign public attorneys to handle cases pending before the appellate and other special courts, and quasi-judicial agencies, as well as to appear in other special interest cases, it stressed.

It pointed out that there are public attorneys who are assigned at the  Executive Support Staff (ESS), Legal Research Service (LRS), Field Operations and Statistics Service (FOSS), and Special and Appealed Cases Service (SACS), as well as at the Regional Special and Appealed Cases Units (RSACUs) in Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City.  

“Those handling appeals serve as the counterparts of the solicitors from the Office of the Solicitor General, while those appearing before the Sandiganbayan serve as the counterparts of the prosecutors from the Office of the Ombudsman.  To be clear, these public attorneys are assigned to handle cases in courts or quasi-judicial agencies that are not included in the number of courts reported by the Officed of the Court Administrator of the SC,” it explained.