Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday applauded the lawyers of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) for serving “the poor, the needy, the destitute and sometimes the hopeless” Filipinos through their free legal assistance and court representations.
Remulla made the statement during the oath-taking of 496 newly hired PAO lawyers.
“Many cases would not be called and be heard on trial if there were no public attorneys to attend to the cases to represent the poor, the needy, the destitute, and sometimes the hopeless,” Remulla stressed.
“We inject hope into the lives of these people who come to court, feeling poor, feeling helpless, not knowing where everything will lead them,” he stressed.
PAO chief Persida Rueda Acosta said 137 of those who took their oaths are lawyers who passed the 2020-2021 Bar examinations.
“You are the heart of the Department of Justice. You are there to give justice a very humane face in our society,” Remulla said.
Let us help the poor, help those in jail, get them out if we can, let’s find ways to get them out of jails),” the DOJ chief appealed.
“I really admire the Public Attorney’s Office. I consider the Public Attorney’s Office as one of the pillars of the Philippine justice system, true to speak. We’re like one leg of the judiciary,” he said.
Remulla recalled that whenever new lawyers ask him for advice, he would always tell them “join the PAO.”
“That’s why you made the right decision because the Public Attorney’s Office is the place where you will have direct access to your client, where you will get mentoring from the older lawyers, where the fiscals are kind to you because most of them came from the Public Attorney’s Office, where the judges appreciate your presence because there is nothing like a person giving his time and youth to attending to cases of the poor and destitute,” Remulla told the new PAO lawyers.