📋 Tender Overview
All roads led to the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City on May 31, 2024 for the fourth and final leg of the Regional Consultations on the Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS) Rules, one of the latest judicial reform projects of the Supreme Court under its Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI).
The ULAS Regional Consultations is a series of consultative discussions on the proposed rules, which shall govern the mandatory rendition of pro bono legal aid services by covered lawyers to qualified beneficiaries comprising of the following: (a) indigents; (b) members of marginalized sectors with respect to their public interest cases; and (c) non-governmental and non-profit organizations, with respect to cases beneficial to indigents and members of marginalized sectors. It commenced in Baguio City last April and was held subsequently in Cagayan de Oro City followed by Makati City.
In his keynote message, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said that the ULAS Rules aims to put in place a unified and streamlined framework for legal aid services. He added that the Court, through the creation of the ULAS Rules, hopes to give the indigent, underrepresented, and marginalized members of our society full and effective access to justice.
“Prescinding from previous legal aid service rules, our proposed ULAS Rules seeks to make mandatory legal aid service in the country pursuant to the duty of every lawyer to participate in the development of a legal system, improve the administration of justice, and strengthen the judicial and legal system,” shared the Chief Justice.
He added that the proposed ULAS Rules will allow the aggregation of creditable hours by covered lawyers in registered organizations, “so that these organizations can determine who among its lawyers are best suited to address the needs of the qualified beneficiaries.”
The Chief Justice also presented some of the salient points raised during the previous legs of the regional consultations. First, the determination, computation, and monitoring of the actual hours served should be clarified, given the nuances between the ULAS Rules and this Court’s previous initiatives to promote pro bono legal service.
Second, Chief Justice Gesmundo emphasized the importance of implementing safeguards for the aggregation of creditable hours in registered organizations to reduce or eliminate possible unfairness and abuse among lawyers. He also suggested that the Court could provide additional incentives for lawyers who comply with the requirements.
The Chief Justice then extended the Court’s gratitude to the developmental partners, the Australian Government – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and The Asia Foundation (TAF), for supporting the ULAS Regional Consultations, which he said “is part of the Fostering Advancement of Inclusive and Rights-based Justice, or FAIR Justice Program,” which is a product of the robust partnership between the Supreme Court of the Philippines and the Australian Government.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, Chairperson of the Technical Working Group to Draft the ULAS Rules (TWG), likewise expressed his gratitude to the DFAT and TAF, and to everyone who have extended their assistance especially the members of the legal profession who participated in the discussions during the regional consultations.
Stressing that the ULAS Rules will only be as good as the way they materialize in the nation’s real experiences, Justice Caguioa said: “In inceptum finis est. The end is in the beginning… And so as we end the regional consultations today towards finalizing the fifth draft, please note that this is just the beginning of more work that must still be done.”
He shared that the TWG will begin collating and evaluating all input and feedback from the consultations for the consideration of the Court in drafting the final version of the ULAS Rules.
Justice Caguioa pointed out the need to set up the ULAS Board, which will be in charge of the implementation and administration of the ULAS Rules. “Similar to the MCLE [Mandatory Continuing Legal Education] Office and the MCLE Governing Board, the ULAS Board and Office will be primarily tasked to monitor the effectiveness of the [R]ules and the compliance thereof and, with the approval of the Court, institute policies to improve its system,” he said, adding that the ULAS Board will also lead the drafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations for the ULAS Rules.
Furthermore, Justice Caguioa said that continued partnerships and interoperations with other government agencies and organizations which share the purpose of the ULAS Rules must push on, including coordination with the Department of Justice Action Center for the broadening of the base from which the ULAS Rules will stand.
Justice Caguioa encouraged every stakeholder “to stay farsighted when you view the ULAS Rules, and imagine the kind of society that we can contribute to building through it,” by imagining “a nation where people will not think twice about pursuing justice just because they could not afford it; where access to justice is far from being priced, packaged and stacked against the poor. Where due process is not commodified and sold to the highest bidder. We invite you to hold that vision in your mind, even as it situates you right at the edge of what we have already done, and what we can still, with courage and together, continue to attempt to do.”
“Whether you are in favor of the ULAS Rules, against it, or otherwise ambivalent as to its provisions, it is but consistent with all good reason that we understand the price that is being paid for its absence,” he stressed.
Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, Vice-Chairperson of the TWG, said that the ULAS Rules is “the Court’s revolutionary initiative to finally and firmly institutionalize effective, efficient, and attainable legal aid service for those who need it.”
