The legal aid advocate in the House of Representatives on Saturday said a foundation that is working for the welfare of indigent court litigants will offer scholarship grants to law students in exchange for them rendering free legal services.
Deputy Majority Leader and Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles said Lakbay Hustisya Foundation is “offering scholarship grants to law students nationwide to encourage them to explore advocacy work, specifically in providing legal aid to indigent Filipinos.”
Lakbay Hustisya Foundation is a legal aid trust fund that advocates for free legal consultations for poor jail inmates. It also recently expanded its services by providing free legal consultations online.
Nograles, who established the foundation, has been pushing for the institutionalization of legal aid in the country since his election to the House.
He has two pending bills seeking to ensure that marginalized sectors have greater access to justice in the country.
House Bill 4281 or the Public Attorney’s Office Modernization Act of 2019, seeks to broaden the PAO’s mandate to include free legal assistance to indigent complainants or petitioners.
Meanwhile, House Bill 2993 or the Legal Aid Program Act of 2019, provides for the establishment of legal aid programs in both private and public law schools to augment the services rendered by the PAO and other public offices that offer free legal assistance.
The Lakbay Hustisya Foundation Legal Aid Scholarship for the academic year 2020-2021 is open to all third and fourth year law students in public and private law schools.
In exchange for the grant, the awardees must render fifty hours of legal aid per semester.
In cases where the awardee is required to provide legal aid as an academic requirement by their school, the 50-hour service requirement should be fulfilled separately.
The deadline for application is on October 31, 2020.
The lawmaker said that the foundation decided to offer scholarship grants to incentivize students who are willing to “go beyond what is required by their own schools to serve their fellow Filipinos.”
“Admittedly, magiging mabigat ang dagdag na responsibilidad para sa papasang (the added responsibility is burdensome to the) scholar. But I believe that the kind of scholars we will attract are exactly those who do not mind putting in the necessary hard work to do something meaningful,” said Nograles, vice chair of the House committee on justice.