Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

Legal aid is an essential part of humane and fair criminal justice system

that is based on the rule of law. All over the world, where justice systems are

present, legal aid is offered to people who cannot afford legal access to justice. It

is a human right of a person to receive such assistance. The United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime has made researches regarding the global legal

assistance and aid. According to their studies, the United Nations defines legal

aid as “legal advice, assistance and representation for persons detained,

arrested or imprisoned, suspected or accused of or charged with a criminal

offence and for victims and witnesses in the criminal justice processes that is

provided free of charge for those without sufficient means or when the interests

of justice so require” (UN Principles and Guidelines, 2012). Furthermore, legal

aid and assistance is intended to include the concepts of legal education such as

teaching and, access to legal information and other services provided for persons

through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and restorative justice

processes (UN Principles and Guidelines, 2012).

Legal aid makes a vital connection between the people and their justice

systems and provides guidance on how to navigate the complexities of the

justice system. The purpose of legal aid originates from developing standards of

justice and fairness (United Nations, 2016).

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Historically, legal aid and assistance have played “strong roles in ensuring

respect for economic, social and cultural rights which are engaged in relation to

social security, housing, social care, health and education service provision,

which may be provided publicly or privately, as well as employment law and anti-

discrimination legislation” (Francis, 1999).

In the Philippines, the Constitution mandated that legal assistance and aid

should be provided by the government. The constitution said that "free access to

courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty" (The Philippine

Constitution, 1987). In order to guarantee the rule of law, truth and social justice

for all, the Public Attorney’s Office, formerly known and called as Citizen’s Legal

Assistance Office (CLAO) was established with its mission to offer clienteles –the

indigent litigants, the oppressed, marginalized, and underprivileged members of

the society (Public Attorney’s Office, n.d.) – an access, free of charge, to courts,

judicial and quasi-judicial agencies, by rendering legal services, counseling and

assistance. Laws regarding the said office were also passed to provide and

established rules and regulations as to how the said mandate of the constitution

be provided to help people to have an access to a fair justice system.

The Citizen’s Legal Assistance Office or CLAO was created as an

independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice in

accordance with the Administrative Code of 1987. The Code was amended

through the Republic Act No. 9406 of 2006 or “An Act Reorganizing And

Strengthening The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Amending For The Purpose

Pertinent Provisions Of Executive Order No.292, Otherwise Known As The

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“Administrative Code of 1987”, As Amended, Granting Special Allowance To

PAO Officials And Lawyers, And Providing Funds Therefor” (Congress of the

Philippines, 2006). Additionally, another law was passed to assert the duty of the

Public Attorney’s Office with the law entitled Republic Act No. 9999 or “An Act

Providing A Mechanism For Free Legal Assistance And For Other Purposes”

(Congress of the Philippines, 2010). These laws set the guidelines as to how the

Legal Aid in the Philippines is set up.

Under the Republic Act 9406, the Public Attorney’s Office will

autonomously discharge its mandate to render, free legal representation, free

assistance and free counseling to persons aforementioned in the previous

paragraph, in criminal, civil, labor, administrative and other quasi-judicial cases

(Congress of the Philippines, 2006). The Public Attorney’s Office was delegated

to be the main law office of the government in extending free legal aid and

assistance to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative and other

quasi-judicial cases. The Office can also cater non-judicial assistance such as

Legal Counseling or Advice, Legal Documentation, Oaths Administration, Inquest

Investigation & Custodial Interrogation, Lawyers’ Jail Visitation, Forensics

Services, Barangay Outreach, and more. In the demand of the provision, the

Public Attorney’s Office may also call upon by proper government authorities to

render such service to other persons, subject to existing laws, rules and

regulations (Public Attorney’s Office, 2006).

The Republic Act No. 9999 further strengthens the need of legal aid in the

Philippines. Thus the declaration of the policy said that “it is the policy of the
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State to promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity

and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through

policies and programs that provide adequate social services and improve the

quality of life for all.” It also added that the government “shall guarantee free legal

assistance to the poor and ensure that every person who cannot afford the

services of a counsel is provided with a competent and independent counsel

preferably of his/her own choice, if upon determination it appears that the party

cannot afford the services of a counsel, and that services of a counsel are

necessary to secure the ends of justice and protect of the party” (Congress of the

Philippines, 2010).

The Administrative Code of the Philippines and Republic Acts 9406 and

9999 also set the boundaries as to how Public Attorney’s Office is organized and

sent out to all regions, provinces, cities and municipalities in the country to

provide the services, to those who need it the most.

In the City of General Santos, a Public Attorney’s District Office was

established in the Hall of Justice in Barangay Lagao of the said city. The office

provides legal assistance and aid to the people of General Santos and even

outside General Santos. Moreover, the office offers lawyers in each sala or

courts in General Santos City to provide legal aid, counsel and action to People

Deprived Liberty who cannot afford a private lawyer to help them defend

themselves.
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Considering that the Public Attorney’s Office played a vast role to the

justice system of the Philippines, it is therefore necessary to study the

development and performance of the Public Attorney’s Office, particularly in the

locale of the General Santos City District, which covers the whole city of General

Santos and the Justice on Wheels of Sarangani province. This study will find out

how effective does the Public Attorney’s Office in helping the poor and the

marginalized be defended in their cases, particular cases that are criminally

charged in nature, in the courts of General Santos.

Statement of the Problem

This research study has been designed to assess the performance of the

Public Attorney’s Office in General Santos City. The objective and aim of the

study answers the nature of the criminal cases represented by the Public

Attorney’s Office – General Santos from 2016 to 2018.

Specifically, it aimed to answer the following question:

1. What are the guidelines and procedures for the criminal cases

accepted by the Public Attorney’s Office?

2. How does the Public Attorney’s Office handle criminal cases in

General Santos City from 2016 to 2018?

3. How effective is the Public Attorney’s Office in providing legal

assistance and aid for the litigants?

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Assumptions of the Study

The assumptions were adopted in this study, to wit:

1. There are certain guidelines and procedures for litigants who have

criminal case charges to be qualified as a client of the Public Attorney’s

Office.

2. The Public Attorney’s Office from 2016 to 2018 has handled the

criminal cases in a manner where the litigants are offered very

competent lawyers, and excellent legal assistance.

3. The Public Attorney’s Office handles criminal cases in the courts of

General Santos City very effectively.

Conceptual Framework

The framework of this study is rooted in the theory of institutionalism and

theory of justice. Institutions, as defined by William Richard Scott as “social

structures that have attained a high degree of resilience. They are composed of

cultural-cognitive, normative, and regulative elements that, together with

associated activities and resources, provide stability and meaning to social life.

John Rawles on the other hand theorized about the Theory of Justice. This is the

framework for the justice part of the study.

Institutions are transmitted by various types of carriers, including symbolic

systems, relational systems, routines, and artifacts. Institutions operate at

different levels of jurisdiction, from the world system to localized interpersonal

relationships. Institutions by definition connote stability but are subject to change

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processes, both incremental and discontinuous” (Scott, 1995). Some also

defined institutionalism as "Policy-making that emphasizes the formal and legal

aspects of government structures" (Kraft Public Policy, 2007). The theory of

institutionalism provides a guide to the general view of the structure of the study.

It presents a map flow of the study. In line with the problem, the researcher

evaluated the performance of the Public Attorney’s Office district in General

Santos City to how they handle the criminal cases assigned to them. Laws

regarding the said office were also passed to provide and established rules and

regulations as to how the said mandate of the constitution be provided to help

people to have an access to a fair justice system. The Public Attorney’s Office

District in General Santos City served as the main legal aid and assistance

provider in the city. Lawyers are appointed and hired by the government to

specifically be assigned to do legal aid and assistance, including a criminal case

counsel to the courts of the city.

Under the “Justice for Fairness” (Rawles, 1985) principle of Rawles, it

proposed that all people should be afforded the same rights and privileges under

the law because of a concept he calls the “veil of ignorance”. This concept is

applied in which all of the citizens undermine and even are unaware of their

wealth, social status, physical strength, competence, and intelligence. Through

the Administrative Code of 1987’s mandate to “Extend free legal assistance/

representation to indigents and poor litigants in criminal cases and non-

commercial” (Aquino, 1987), Rawles concept can be done as the office will serve

and offer indigent litigants, oppressed, marginalized, and underprivileged

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members of the society an access, free of charge, to courts, judicial and quasi-

judicial agencies, by rendering legal services, counseling and assistance” (Public

Attorney’s Office, n.d.), giving equality to those who cannot afford justice as

those who are well-off.

Conceptual Model

Figure 1 illustrates the diagram on the procedures of the Public Attorney’s

Office in the General Santos District.

PUBLIC ATTORNEYS OFFICE

General Santos District

Extend free legal assistance to poor litigants

The Effectiveness Guidelines and Procedures

of PAO as
perceived by its
clients

The Handling of Criminal Cases by the

PAO General Santos

Cases that have been assigned, worked on

by the PAO and cases handled by PAO
that has been decided by the Court
already.
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Significance of the Study

The objective of the study determined how the Public Attorney’s Office in

the district of General Santos City performs in defending the poor and the

helpless in the justice system of the Philippines – especially in a society wherein

more than a million poor Filipinos are accused of cases such as violation of

illegal drugs, illegal gambling and other cases.

Furthermore, the goal of the study was to able to evaluate the

performance of the Public Attorney’s Office in its district in General Santos when

it comes to how they handle criminal cases in the Municipal and regional Trial

Courts. This study widened the understanding of the importance of legal aid and

assistance provided by the Public Attorney’s Office to those people who cannot

afford the luxury of contracting private counsels in the Philippine Judicial System.

The outcome of the study hopes to provide a clear knowledge as to how

the Public Attorney’s Office have facilitated the criminal cases they have handled

from 2016 to 2018. And furthermore provide an assessment as to what will be

the things that they should implement to further help the Filipinos who needed

their assistance and aid.

The objective of the study was to determine how the Public Attorney’s

Office in the district of General Santos City performs in defending the poor and

the helpless in the criminal justice system of the Philippines – especially in a

society wherein more than 170,000 Filipinos are accused of cases such as

violation of illegal drugs, illegal gambling and other cases (PDEA, 2019).
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Scope and Limitations

The focus of this research is to analyze the performance of Public

Attorney’s Office in its district in General Santos from 2016 to 2018 with regards

to how they were handling criminal cases in the three Municipal Trial Courts and

nine Regional Trial Courts of the said city. The Criminal Code of the Philippines

sets the scope of the term “Criminal Cases” that was being widely discusses in

the study. Furthermore, the said code also differentiates cases as to whether

they are criminal, civil, administrative or special in nature. Furthermore, the

researcher used archival materials as the primary data gathering method in the

study. Survey and Key Informant Interview were used as a secondary method in

data gathering.

Definition of Terms

The terms below are defined both conceptually and operationally:

Court – conceptually means institution or person who has authority or

power to judge or adjudicate. It is often a government institution, with the

authority to judge legal disputes between parties and then carry out the

administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in

accordance with the rule of law. (Walker, 1980) Operationally refers to three

Municipal Trial Courts in Cities (MTCCs) and nine Regional Trial Courts (RTCs)

located in the Hall of Justice of General Santos City.

Legal Aid or Legal Assistance – Conceptually means legal assistance,

aid and representation for people that are detained, arrested or imprisoned,
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suspected or accused of, or charged with, a criminal offence. It also serves

victims and witnesses in the criminal justice process that is provided free of

charge for those without sufficient means or when the interests of justice so

require (United Nations Principles and Guidelines, 2012). Furthermore, it

renders, free legal representation, free assistance and free counseling to persons

aforementioned in the previous paragraph, in criminal, civil, labor, administrative

and other quasi-judicial cases (Congress of the Philippines, 2006). Operationally,

refers to legal aid and assistance to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor,

administrative and other quasi-judicial cases. It also refers to non-judicial

assistance such as Legal Counseling or Advice, Legal Documentation, Oaths

Administration, Inquest Investigation & Custodial Interrogation, Lawyers’ Jail

Visitation, Forensics Services, Barangay Outreach, and more. In the demand of

the provision, the Public Attorney’s Office may also call upon by proper

government authorities to render such service to other persons, subject to

existing laws, rules and regulations (Congress of the Philippines, 2006).

Legal Aid and Assistance Provider – Conceptually, a legally trained

professional (lawyer or paralegal or other suitably trained person) who provides

State-funded legal aid on a full-time or part-time basis (UNODC, 2019).

Operationally, refers to the public attorneys, lawyers, and counsels that was hired

by the government to provide legal aid and assistance to the people. They are

employees of the Public Attorney’s Office.

Legal Aid Service Provider – Conceptually, the organization that

provides legal aid services, or on behalf of which a legal aid provider works.
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Lawyers are the “first” providers of legal aid, but that States may involve a wide

range of stakeholders as legal aid service providers such as non-governmental

organizations (NGOs), community based organizations, charitable organizations,

professional bodies or associations, Public Defender institutions, private lawyers

funded by the State to carry out legal aid and educational institutions. (UNODC,

2019) Operationally refers to it refers to the services rendered by the Public

Attorney’s Office situated on the District of the City of General Santos. Public

Attorney’s Office can be abbreviated as PAO.

Legal Service – conceptually and operationally, refers to any activity

which requires the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge, training and

experiences which shall include, among others, legal advice and counsel, and

the preparation of instruments and contracts, including appearance before the

administrative and quasi-judicial offices, bodies and tribunals handling cases in

court, and other similar services as may be defined by the Supreme Court

(Congress of the Philippines, 2010).