Beyond legal aid

A survey of 3,900 people by the EU-funded “Justice Sector Reform Programme: Governance in Justice” (GOJUST) in the Philippines had interesting findings about our people’s interaction with the justice system.

Based on the survey, an estimated 36% of Filipinos experienced a justiciable issue in the past five years. That translates to roughly 25.6 million people, according to lawyer Hector Soliman who shared the findings during the 2022 National Legal Aid Summit last November 28 in Bacolod City. Soliman is senior adviser for Access to Justice of the British Council that implements GOJUST.

The nature of justiciable issues vary. These include problems with payment of goods, utilities and motor vehicles, disputes on collection of loans, problems with neighbors, conflicts in land tenure, harassment suits faced by farmers, and trafficking of women and children.

Of the 36% who experienced legal problems, 63% percent acted by reaching out to the other party or taking the case to the barangay, while 37% percent did not do anything. Most of the respondents did not seek proper information or guidance on how to resolve their legal issues.

Of those who sought information, social media has become a popular and emerging source of information. Others seek guidance from their barangay officials, while about a third consulted friends who are not lawyers. Only 23% are so-called fortunate enough to have friends who are lawyers whom they can initially consult for free. Private paid lawyers and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) are the last resort.

Contrary to common perception, it does not seem to be the character of Filipinos to be litigious. We don't resort to litigation right away. Not going to court right away does not mean, however, a lack of trust in the judicial system. In fact, based on the survey, stakeholders in the justice system including the Supreme Court, trial courts, and private lawyers enjoy relatively high positive trust ratings among the respondents. Lawyers of PAO, in particular, enjoy a positive 58% trust rating, and over 70% of the respondents agree that PAO lawyers are there to help.

This is not surprising at all. Then President Noynoy Aquino’s salary standardization measures in 2015 and 2016 benefitted government offices like the PAO. The entry-level position of Public Attorney I, for example, now receives a basic salary of around ?95,000 (Salary Grade 25). With the additional allowances, benefits and incentives, the compensation package at PAO indeed can attract the best talent while maintaining high morale and well-being.

There are 2,328 PAO lawyers all over the country in 349 districts and 2,446 courts handling the cases of millions of poor litigants. But while PAO provides free legal representation to people who pass its merit and indigency test, there are so many people who don’t pass this test but are still too poor to afford a private lawyer. Their cases fall through the cracks because of lack of adequate legal representation.

That is why while we work toward expanding access to legal aid for those who need it, legal assistance should not be confined to the provision of traditional legal services alone. Being able to avail of the services of lawyers is just a small albeit most known part of access to justice. Equally important is legal empowerment-- or a grassroots-based campaign to make people aware and active in the enforcement and protection of their rights and in settling disputes.

Stakeholders can work together to institutionalize paralegal education through traditional and digital methods, translating the law to lay person's language, and doing regular consultations on people's engagement in the legal process, among others.