MANILA, Philippines — Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta on Tuesday expressed gratitude for the ‘swift actions’ of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and now Senate president Sherwin Gatchalian to push through with the construction of the long-delayed PAO building in Quezon City.
Rueda-Acosta, who toured the members of the Quezon City Press Club at the under-construction facility on a 5, 175 square-meter National Government Center property along Commonwealth Avenue, also was thankful to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon who instructed the concerned agency officials to fast track the construction as ordered by the Chief Executive.
Congratulating Gatchalian for his election as the new Senate chief and restoring order at the upper chamber, she was all praises for the former for making true with his promise when he made available the amount of P280 million for the building’s Phase 5 when he was then the Senate committee on appropriations head.
“We thank President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian for prioritizing the budget for the construction of our new building as well as Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon for guaranteeing the building’s structural integrity,” the chief public attorney told reporters.
PAO is currently located in Barangay Pinyahan, also in the city, which was cramped with a limited space. It was just beside an informal settlers’ area that was struck by a huge fire on March 6, 2026.
“We badly need a much bigger building like this one as there are over 1,000 clients who come to us on a daily basis. We really need a bigger space to accommodate the growing number of indigents who seek free legal assistance, among others,” Rueda-Acosta said.
Saying she refused to handle the budget to avoid corruption within the agency, she said the fund allocation for the building construction was being downloaded by the Department of Budget and Management to DPWH.
“But you know what, if PAO handles the budget, the building may have been finished by now but then, it’s still okay because we make sure that PAO remains free of corruption issues,” Rueda-Acosta stressed.
The top PAO official, who vowed to maximize her term by retiring when she reaches 70 (she is 64 at present), the compulsory retirement age as mandated by an existing law, assured the public that the new building can withstand a magnitude 10 earthquake, and is accessible particularly once the Metro Rail Transit-7 is completed.
With a total of P900-million allocated under the 2018 budget but has since ballooned to P2-billion due to the rising cost of materials over the years, the construction started in 2019 but was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to PAO.
With the target date of completion in May 2027, Rueda-Acosta was confident that they could be able to move to the new 10-story building a month later.
Vowing to work more with dedication “so that there will be no reasons for the Filipino people to rise up in arms or resort to lawlessness,” Rueda-Acosta said the new PAO building is dedicated to the ‘masang Pilipino’ (Filipino masses) in order to serve them better and more extensively.
If she is still healthy when she leaves PAO, Rueda-Acosta said she may consider making herself available to serve the Filipino people in some other capacity.
