By Ven Arigo
Many are languishing behind bars because of the utter lack of public lawyers to assist poor prisoners who cannot afford the price of private counsels.
Lawyer Persida Rueda-Acosta, national chief of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO), is hopeful to steadily address this concern after finding such a condition obtaining at the Tagbilaran City Rehabilitation Center (CTRC) on Friday.
In a surprise visit to the city jail with Rep. Edgar Chatto, Acosta committed to initially appoint at least four more PAO lawyers here to assist the poor jailed court litigants.
She was accompanied by the congressman to the government jail in the city.
The lady PAO chief in the country "sidetripped" to the isolated city Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility before she was to speak as honored guest of the Holy Name University (HNU) College of Law.
She particularly spoke in the honoring of HNU"s all lady new lawyers during a ceremony led by the school's law dean, Provincial Administrator Tomas Abapo, Jr., at Metro Centre.
Chatto himself introduced Acosta, who is a close peer and classmate in the Ateneo law school.
Acosta thanked Chatto, a member of the justice committee in Congress, for strongly supporting the bill strengthening PAO.
According to a city jail officer, many inmates have no legal counsels while PAO lawyers are gravely limited.
PAO Tagbilaran District Office lawyer Julius Cesar admitted that he alone is handling over 200 cases.
The PAO lawyer assigned in Talibon is in hardest situation in being assigned to over 700 cases, he confided.
On the average, Cesar said there are only five PAO cases disposed or decided in courts in a month.
These would already include those settled thru plea bargaining.
Dedication to service is probably the compelling reason of a lawyer to work with PAO because the office cannot afford tempting salary.
Under Acosta are 1,048 public attorneys and 852 support staff nationwide, but the number is far below the necessity.
Presently, there are only 8 PAO lawyers in Bohol and, according to an insider, one is planning to resign.
In the HNU law school affair, Acosta gave application forms to the new lawyers who may be interested in the challenge of PAO mission.
The PA national chief also brought along with her a doctor who rendered free medical examination and consultation to the city jail inmates. Free medicines were distributed to the prisoners.
Acosta, an International Gusi Peace Prize awardee, inspired her limited men in Bohol to keep treading the road less traveled---the defense of the rights of the poor and marginalized sectors.
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