If the Supreme Court were to formulate a meaningful legal aid program that involves the private sector, it must be one that is continuous and sustainable.
This was emphasized by Supreme Court Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa during the second day of the 2022 National Legal Aid Summit, held in Bacolod City as he spoke on the involvement of law firms and private practitioners in legal aid.
“Considering that legal concerns take quite some time to be resolved, legal aid cannot be piecemeal – it must be undertaken constantly and for a prolonged period of time,” said Justice Caguioa. “Thus, if the Court were to formulate a meaningful legal aid program that involves the private sector, it must be one that is sustainable.”
Tracing the steps taken by the Supreme Court in institutionalizing a legal aid service, Justice Caguioa shared that the Court first issued Bar Matter No. 2012, or the Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service for Practicing Lawyers, which, for various reasons, was never implemented.
“The Court’s second attempt at instituting a legal aid program was in 2017, through the Rule on Community Legal Aid Service or CLAS (A.M. No. 17-03-09-SC),” said Justice Caguioa, who served as Chairperson of the 2022 Bar Examinations. “The CLAS was supposed to be implemented for the passers of the 2018 Bar Examinations and for the succeeding years, but the Court had to face certain realities that made said implementation more challenging than first thought.”
He explained that there was a noted difficulty for recent Bar passers to comply with the requirement as they were adjusting to life in the legal profession, and that first-year lawyers also usually face a steep learning curve. “In short, a first-year lawyer is usually pre-occupied with work that firms usually consider as billable.”
Justice Caguioa also shared that the Court had to contend with the fact that legal aid is meant to provide effective legal service for indigent citizens and the marginalized. The Court thus deemed it best to also suspend the implementation of the CLAS given the possibility “that the core objective of providing legal aid may not be achieved if the ones expected to render the same are those without experience.”
“With the suspension of the implementation of the MLAS and the CLAS, therefore, the Court currently only has the Law Student Practice Rule to supplement the legal aid programs undertaken by the IBP which are, in turn, funded through the Court,” said Justice Caguioa.
Mindful of the gap in the legal aid programs, Justice Caguioa, as Chairperson of the Supreme Court Sub-Committee on Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Oversight, relayed to the IBP his thoughts on how to institutionalize legal aid in the legal profession, and in the process involve not just individual lawyers but law firms as well.
He shared that he knows firsthand that law firms are primarily run as for profit enterprises. “Being built for profit, however, is not antithetical to helping out. Humanitarian work ensures a safer and more just society, that will create a better environment from the perspective of investors and the business communities.”
Legal aid must not be imposed as a requirement, he said. “It needs to be incentivized so the Court can expect compliance, especially from the private sector.”
Justice Caguioa likewise disclosed that he and Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo met with the IBP to exchange ideas as to what the legal aid program should embody. This led to the formal submission by the IBP of the draft Unified Legal Aid Services, or ULAS, to the Court on November 4, 2022, for the latter’s approval.
He shared several pertinent portions of the ULAS Rules as drafted, among which are that clients under the ULAS will not be limited to just “indigents” but will also include the marginalized sectors; that the Rules will cover all lawyers, whether employed in the private sector or in the government; law firms will be classified into small, medium, and large firms, upon which classification the required hours of legal aid will depend given that “(c)ompliance by law firms will enable them to deploy those with more relevant experience in the fields of the particular cases to be handled, thereby better ensuring the effectiveness of legal aid provided;” and that lawyers and law firms who are able to comply will be entitled to incentives. “Currently, the incentives are exemption from MCLE compliance within a particular compliance period, and tax deduction which may be availed of under Republic Act No. 9999 or the ‘Free Legal Assistance Act of 2010,’” said Justice Caguioa.
The Court is also planning to execute a Memorandum of Agreement with the Bureau of Internal Revenue once the ULAS Rules take effect to streamline how lawyers and law firms can avail of the tax incentive under R.A. No. 9999.
“It is the Court’s hope that this incentive-based legal aid program is the key to encouraging the entire legal profession to fully engage in legal aid,” expressed Justice Caguioa.
As the three-day Summit drew to a close on November 30, 2022, participants were able to engage in roundtable discussions regarding the role of developmental legal aid in providing access to legal assistance as well as the challenges and opportunities in alternative lawyering prior to the presentation of recommendations and the establishment of a roadmap for legal empowerment.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando delivered the closing remarks.
The 2022 National Legal Aid Summit, titled “Reimagining the Art of Legal Empowerment: National Summit on Access to Justice through Cultivating Approaches on Legal Aid,” drew more than 200 participants from the Supreme Court, the Philippine Judges Association, the Department of Justice, the Department of Migrant Workers, the Commission on Human Rights, the IBP, the Philippine Bar Association, Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS), Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), Alternative Law Groups (ALG), National Union of People’s Lawyers, Public Attorney’s Office, the Legal Education Board, the University of the Philippines – Office of Legal Aid, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, law firms, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), European Union GoJust II Programme (GOJUST), and The Asia Foundation Programme (TAF).
Organized by the Supreme Court, the IBP, PALS, FLAG, and ALG with the support of the ABA ROLI, GOJUST, and TAF, the Summit was conducted to develop a roadmap that will amplify, provide, and sustain avenues of access towards the constitutional guarantee of adequate legal assistance. It is in line with the objective of the Supreme Court to conduct a holistic evaluation of all legal aid programs nationwide under “Outcome Area 3: Access” of its Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027, the blueprint of plans and programs of the Judiciary for the next five years. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
The Members of the Supreme Court pose for posterity during the second day of the 2022 National Legal Summit in Bacolod City on November 29, 2022. In the photo are (from left): Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr., Justice Ricardo R. Rosario, Justice Mario V. Lopez, Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, Justice Samuel H. Gaerlan, Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, and Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh.
Legal professionals from the Supreme Court, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Free Legal Assistance Group, Philippine Association of Law Schools, Alternative Law Groups, and other legal aid practitioners engage in roundtable discussions regarding the role of developmental legal aid in providing access to legal assistance as well as the challenges and opportunities in alternative lawyering during Day 3 of the 2022 National Legal Aid Summit on November 30, 2022 in Bacolod City.