THE Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) said it needs P700 million in additional funding to hire more lawyers and support staff amid heavy caseload.
PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said during budget deliberations at the House of Representatives on Thursday that each public attorney handles an average of 350 cases per month.
She told lawmakers that PAO needs 559 additional lawyers but is willing to settle for about half of the requested number, or roughly 225, along with 400 support staff.
Rueda-Acosta said the additional personnel will handle a wide range of duties beyond court cases, including mediation and arbitration, preliminary investigations, inquest proceedings, village outreach, legal counseling and assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“We are also serving the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration because we are called upon by these two agencies to assist our OFWs abroad personally through our PAO lawyers,” she said.
Rueda-Acosta noted that public defenders also handle labor cases and mediation services to resolve conflicts.
She cited PAO’s involvement with the Department of Justice’s Katarungan Caravan, which provides legal counseling through text messaging and other social media platforms.
Rueda-Acosta said PAO is committed to act on all requests for nonjudicial services within two hours in 2027.
The PAO’s proposed budget for 2027 is P7.101 billion, 6.10 percent higher than its P6.693-billion allocation for 2026.
Rueda-Acosta said the increase is due to mandatory salary adjustments and funding for previously created positions, including 87 lawyer positions, rather than new positions.
The proposed budget, she said, would allow PAO to target an 83.05 percent favorable judgment rate for disposed cases, including appeals, in 2027.
The agency reported a 91.43 percent success rate in alternative dispute resolution cases in 2025 and said it sustained high disposition rates for cases resulting in favorable judgments in 2025 and 2026.
