Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla on Monday, July 22, expressed his gratitude on the approval by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) of 178 new posts for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Public Attorneys Office (PAO).
In a statement, Remulla conveyed his “appreciation to Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman in going the extra mile to address the legal needs of our country.”
He said the creation of the 178 new positions for PAO required an annual budget of P336 million.
"Gone are the days when some may think that access to justice in the Philippines is exclusively for the wealthy,” he stressed..
“Today, under the Bagong Pilipinas political vision, we level the playing field between the rich and the poor in terms of having access to legal services," he pointed out.
With the new posts, Remulla said that PAO can hire more public attorneys for deployment to its offices nationwide.
The new plantilla includes 122 positions for public attorneys 1 and 56 for public attorneys 2.