VOL.

262, SEPTEMBER 20, 1996 189

Are There Too Many Lawyers in the Philippines?

ANNOTATION

ARE THERE * TOO MANY LAWYERS IN THE

PHILIPPINES?
By

RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ

______________

§ A. Wrong Perception, p. 189

§ B. The True Picture, p. 190
§ C. Recommendations, p. 193

______________

§ A. Wrong Perception

There has been a wrong perception that there are too many
lawyers in the Philippines. This erroneous belief can be
traced to at least two factors.
First, the legal profession, unable to effectively police its
ranks because of our obsolete and vague Code of
Professional Responsibility has its share of unethical
lawyers. These lawyers have given a bad impression on the
law profession to the public. The society perceiving the
misdeeds of the lawyers have began to consider lawyers as
very selfish, too materialistic and the cause of delays and
the obstruction of justice in this country. The socio-cultural
status of a lawyer is quite low that among the professions,
it is the butt of most disparaging and cruel jokes. And the
irony of it all is that we lawyers

________________

* Excerpts from a position paper prepared by the author, approved by

the Philippine Association of Law Schools and submitted to the Supreme
Court.

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Are There Too Many Lawyers in the Philippines?

laugh at them. Society’s contempt for lawyers have led it

conclude, although non sequitur, that there are just too
many lawyers in our country and Philippine society is
better off with less of them.
The second factor why the public may have mistakenly
perceived that there are too many lawyers is the high
visibility of lawyers in the affairs of society. Lawyers
predominate the fields of politics, and politicians, who are
seen everywhere, have carried themselves as opportunists
and comedians. Again, society felt that it needed less of
these people.

§ B. The True Picture

But is there really an oversupply of lawyers in the

Philippines? A survey (IBP survey as of May 24, 1993) by
the Integrated Bar of the Philippines showed that in 1993
there was a lawyer population of 35,963 in the entire
country. Adding 715 new lawyers in 1994 and 1,015 in
1995, there are at present 37,693 lawyers in the
Philippines which has a population of 67 million. There is
therefore a ratio of 1 lawyer per 1,776 persons. This ratio is
very small compared with the United States which has a
ratio of one lawyer for every 320 persons. (U.S. Industrial
Outlook 1991, pp. 52-54).
Aside from these figures, there are three main reasons
why the Supreme Court should shift from its consistent
policy of strict limitation on the admission of new lawyers
to that of liberalization of the entry of more lawyers to the
Philippine Bar.
First. With the accession of the Philippines to the
General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) (Uruguay
Round) in Marrakesh in 1994 and its membership in the
World Trade Organization (WTO), the Philippines has
entered into the globalization stage of trade and services.
Although the Philip-pines was successful in requesting the
non-implementation of the liberalization of services,
including legal services, in the Philippines that would have
allowed the free entry of foreign lawyers to practice in the
Philippines, it will be a matter of time that we will have to
open ourselves to this eventuality.

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Are There Too Many Lawyers in the Philippines?

With the globalization of legal services, as foreign lawyers

can freely practice in the Philippines so will Philippine
lawyers practice anywhere in the world. With Philippine
lawyers who are known to be well trained and with their
facility of the English language, it will be expected that the
best lawyers in the big law firms in Manila will be assigned
to work outside the country in the places where these big
Philippine law firms will open its branches, examples,
United States, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.
Sycip, Salazar has an office already in Indonesia. Romulo,
Mabanta has one in Hongkong.
Also, many brilliant Filipino lawyers will be hired by big
U.S. and European law firms such as Baker & Mckenzie,
Skaden-Arps, Debevoise & Plimpton, Cravath, etc. as our
lawyers will be the most appropriate to provide legal
services in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, the fastest
growing economic region of the world today.
With the deployment of Filipino lawyers abroad by
virtue of the above globalization, we will need more lawyers
to serve in the Philippines.
Second. At present, there is an acute shortage of lawyers
in Metro Manila which is the site of all national
government offices and the principal offices of big private
companies. All of these offices need lawyers to fill up their
legal departments. It is a fact that almost all national
government offices, among them the DAR, DENR, PNP,
DA, DOJ, (prosecutors and public attorneys), Solicitor-
General’s Office, are in dire need of lawyers. Among those
who recently wrote to me as Dean, requesting for
recommendees are the DTI, Small Business Guaranty and
Finance Corporation, Commission on Higher Education,
and the Ombudsman, etc.
With the faster and higher economic growth of country,
many new companies are establishing business offices in
Metro Manila. These new firms are in need of lawyers, and
they could not get them. The following firms have recently
written to me as Dean for recommendation to their legal
departments: State Investment Trust, Inc. and Security
Bank.
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Are There Too Many Lawyers in the Philippines?

Partners of big laws firms in Makati such as Siguion-

Reyna, Sycip, and ACCRA have told me of their difficulty
in getting new lawyers to join them.
There is therefore a big and unsatisfied demand for
lawyers in the government and private sectors in Metro
Manila.
Third. There are no more lawyers in the rural areas! A
check with the Judicial and Bar Council will show that
there are no applicants for Municipal Trial Judge or
Municipal Circuit Trial Judge in many rural
municipalities. There are no applicants simply because
there are not enough lawyers there.
Of the 37,693 lawyer population in 1995, 10,756 are in
Metro Manila while 13,792 are in rest of Luzon. The total
population of lawyers in Luzon therefore is 24,548. This is
68% of the entire lawyer population in the Philippines.
Only 32% are left to service the legal needs of Bicol, the
Visayas and Mindanao.
In Davao del Norte (Southern Mindanao) there are 116
lawyers for a population of 1,650,000 or a ratio of one
lawyer for 14,224 persons. In Surigao del Sur (Southern
Mindanao), there are only 81 lawyers out of a population of
980,000 or a ratio of one lawyer for 12,098 persons. In
Zamboanga del Sur (Western Mindanao) there are only 163
lawyers for a population of 1,650,000 or a ratio of one
lawyer for 10,122 persons. In Bukidnon (Northern
Mindanao) which has a population of 900,000, it has only
91 lawyers for a ratio of one lawyer for 9,890 persons. In
Southern Leyte (Eastern Visayas), there are only 93
lawyers for a population of 420,000 for a ratio of one lawyer
for 4,516 persons.
Clearly, the dispensation of justice in the rural areas is
fail-ing by mere lack of lawyers in these areas.
With the strict policy of the Supreme Court to pass only
those with 75% grade average, only 17.81% passed in 1991,
17.25% in 1992, 21.69% in 1993 and 30.87% last year. Most
students from Metro Manila studying in premier law
schools are in the passing group, while provincial law
students and law students studying in Manila coming from
the provinces,
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Are There Too Many Lawyers in the Philippines?

who would have been those who will go back to the

province to practice, are those who mostly failed.

§ C. Recommendations

1. With the GATT/WTO (Uruguay Round) and globalization

of law practice, we must have more lawyers who can be
deployed abroad without jeopardizing the available legal
services in our country. Last year, South Korea in
anticipation of the global need for lawyers, has increased
their number of passing bar candidates from the top 300 to
the top 2,000 of those taking their national bar. In the U.S.
the passing percentage of even the most difficult states is
70% and their passing grade is around 66%.
2. The Supreme Court should also take into account the
overall performance of all the examinees. When enforcing
the 75% passing average grade will mean the massacre of
the large majority of the bar candidates, the national
interest demands for a reconsideration of this passing
average.
The speedy and fair dispensation of justice is the
bulwark of democracy and is necessary for the survival of a
nation. In order to achieve this, we must have a sufficient
number of lawyers to man the justice system. Unless the
Supreme Court acts to address the present future problem
of lack of lawyers, the delivery of justice to our people will
be jeopardized.

——o0o——

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