ILOILO CITY – The Provincial Population Office of the Iloilo provincial government has launched a legal education program for the youth.

‘ALALAYI,’ a legal aid program for the Ilonggo youth, was launched on April 8 at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol in Iloilo City. (Iloilo Capitol PIO)
Dubbed “alaLAYI: Pag-ubay Legal sa Kabataan,” the program is a partnership between the provincial government, the College of Law of the Central Philippine University here, and the Department of Education-Division of Iloilo.
The name of the program comes from two Hiligaynon words – "alalay" (guidance) and "layi" (law).
Atty. Ruel Von Superio, chief population officer, said alaLAYI mainly aims to provide teenage individuals basic knowledge of the law including their legal rights.
Lawyers from the CPU Legal Aid Clinic and Clinical Education Program (CLEP) will provide seminars and lectures about gender-based laws, voter’s education, and others to teen centers established by the PPO in public high schools.
The program will also teach preparation of simple affidavits and other legal documents. Teenagers or facilitators can be provided with free legal aid.
Gov. Arthur Toto “Defensor” Jr., a lawyer by profession, said the program will educate and empower the youth.
The program was launched with an agreement signed by Defensor, CPU College of Law Dean Atty. Aila Rae Endonila, and DepEd-Iloilo Superintendent Dr. Ernesto Servillon Jr.
Also present during the April 8 launching were Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Iloilo President Atty. Mehelinda Penetrante, Regional Director Harold Alfred Marshall of the Commission on Population and Development-6, CPU College of Law Assistant Dean Atty. Liza Lyn Lamason-Garcia, and DepEd-Iloilo School Governance Division chief Dr. Gilbert Solidum.