Corona vows justice for poor Filipinos

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has vowed to provide those who have less in life with more where the law is concerned.

The chief justice over the weekend said that beside the existing programs and reforms that had been instituted by his predecessor, retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno, more would soon be implemented to speed up the delivery of justice.

“Cognizant of the adage ‘Justice delayed is justice denied,’ the court has gone to great lengths to decongest court dockets and expedite the resolution of cases,” Corona added.

According to him, there are plans to promulgate the Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service for Practicing Lawyers, which requires all practicing lawyers to render free legal aid to indigents for a minimum number of hours every year as a pre-condition to their continued good standing.

In an en banc resolution, the High Court earlier directed the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Board of Governors to come up with a draft of the implementing rules as soon as possible and submit it to the High Tribunal for its approval.

The Supreme Court also directed the IBP to submit its comment particularly on concerns that rendition of free legal aid service should be voluntary and that it would spawn litigations and clog court dockets.

The Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service for Practicing Lawyers is aimed at enhancing “the duty of lawyers to society as agents of social change and to the courts as officers thereof by helping improve access to justice by the less privileged members of society and expedite the resolution of cases involving them.”

Under the rule, a practicing lawyer, among others, shall coordinate with the Clerk of Court or the Legal Aid chairman of the lawyer’s IBP Chapter for cases where the lawyer may render free legal aid service. The 60 hours shall be spread within 12 months, with a minimum of five hours of free legal aid services each month. A practicing lawyer shall also be required to secure and obtain a certificate from the Clerk of Court attesting to the number of hours spent rendering free legal aid services in a case.

At the end of every calendar year, any practicing lawyer who fails to meet the minimum prescribed 60 hours of legal aid service each year shall be required by the IBP, through the National Committee on Legal Aid (NCLA), to explain why he or she was unable to render the minimum prescribed hours. The committee shall make a report and recommendation to declare a lawyer “not in good standing” if he or she fails to give an explanation for the failure or if the NCLA finds the explanation unsatisfactory.

“Corollarily, the [Supreme Court also] approved the Rule on the Exemption from the Payment of Legal Fees of the Clients of the National Committee on Legal Aid and the Legal Aid Offices of the Local Chapters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines,” Corona said.

Prior to his assumption as chief justice, he noted that the High Court had promulgated the Rule of Procedure for Small Claims Cases as well as the Special Rules of Court on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to declog the dockets of the courts.

Under Puno, the High Tribunal had also launched the Enhanced Justice on Wheels (EJOW) project, which, on record, resulted in the release of 3,545 inmates, successful mediation of 5,606 cases and the granting of free legal aid to 2,270 individuals and medical and dental attention to 9,056 inmates.

“The [Supreme Court] has also literally brought people to justice, and justice to the people, when it launched the Enhanced Justice on Wheels project,” Corona said. He also vowed that he would continue the EJOW program throughout his term. –WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL Reporter, Manila Times