JUDGMENT DAY. Examinees and their loved ones check the results of the Bar Examinations outside the Supreme Court along Padre Faura St. in Ermita, Manila on April 12, 2022. A total of 8,241 passed the exams held on Feb. 4 and 6 in 31 testing sites of 22 local government units nationwide. (PNA photo by Benjamin Pulta)
MANILA – In an effort to increase the number of practicing lawyers in the country, Senator Raffy Tulfo filed a measure seeking to grant free tuition and other fees to deserving students in state universities and colleges (SUCs) nationwide.
Tulfo’s Senate Bill 1610, or the Free Legal Education Program, will require SUC scholars to render mandatory return service for two years with the Public Attorney's Office or any government agency lacking lawyers.
The current ratio is one lawyer serving roughly 2,500 individuals, according to a news release from the neophyte senator.
“It is very far from the ideal proportion of one lawyer for every 250 persons,” he lamented.
The cost of studying law in private school ranges from PHP75,000 to PHP98,000 per semester or between PHP24,000 and PHP30,000 in SUCs, according to a research conducted by Tulfo’s office.
He pointed out that law is not qualified under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017 as it is already a post-graduate course.
Under SB 1610, to be covered are the tuition fees that will be approved by the SUC governing board, fees for the government-mandated Bar Examination and licensure fees, and other school fees, including but not limited to library fees and fees for prescribed books.
All SUCs with a law program duly accredited by the Legal Education Board shall be qualified to implement the free fees. (PNA)
