By: Dean Sherrymae Velos-Decang (Bukidnon State University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Indigenous People’s Rights Act or IPRA Law

Abstract:

This paper seeks to identify the gaps in legal empowerment at the grassroots level in Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples in Bukidnon, specifically in the issue of cooperative initiatives. Due to the geographical location of these ICC/IPs, cooperative creation tends to be difficult in its initiation process and the sustainability of its organization once set up.

The specific objectives are to conduct a legal empowerment assessment of the ICC/IPs and provide capacity-building training through the local legal aid clinic of the Bukidnon State University College of Law Clinical Legal Education Program. Primarily, a group-focused approach in a pilot community to capacitate the IPs who would like to venture into an enterprise will be conducted. Secondarily, to evaluate and assess the level of legal empowerment necessary to assist the ICC/IPs in their cooperative initiatives through legal aid. Lastly, to provide capacity building and use interventions to address the gaps in the ICC/IPs’ legal empowerment for their economic development at the grassroots level

By: Claire Marie Rojas (University of Cebu – School of Law)

Abstract:

The Clinical Legal Education Program was implemented not only for the benefit of law student practitioners but most importantly for the benefit of the marginalized sectors of society. In fact, Rule 138-A, as revised by the Supreme Court in July 2019, was amended to ensure access to justice of the marginalized sectors. Hence, there is a need not only to discuss the experiences of law schools and their law student practitioners but also that of the communities the Clinical Legal Education Program has reached. This discussion is broken down into three components as follows:

First, the presenter will identify the beneficiary communities the University of Cebu School of Law (UC) has partnered with. This will include an introduction of the key actors in the communities who have helped UC Office of the Legal Aid fulfill its thrust of bringing the law closer to the people;

Second, the presenter will explain the activities organized by the law student practitioners for such communities with a focus on how said activities were tailored to meet the needs of the communities. This will include a discussion on the problems the communities have faced and how UC’s Clinical Legal Education courses have helped the communities solve such problems; and

Third, the presenter will share the impact of the activities on the beneficiary communities. This will include a comparison of the situation before the conduct of the activities and the effects after the activities were conducted. This component will focus on how the activities have brought justice closer to the marginalized communities, in fulfillment of the Supreme Court’s mandate under Rule 138-A.

By: Dean Severo Madrona Jr. (City University of Pasay)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty

Abstract:

This paper seeks to narrate the experience of the City University of Pasay in responding to the legal aid needs of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) during the pandemic. The City University of Pasay – School of Law coordinated with several jails to conduct information dissemination and legal advice, both online and in person. This paper will discuss the common problems among many jails due to the pandemic, how the CLEP of CUP-SOL provides the PDLs access to justice, and the impact of such program on the PDLs, and how the institution of such practice will help the PDLs.

By: Kirby Fabi and Portia Garabiles (Saint Paul School of Professional Studies)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Agrarian Reform and Agricultural Tenancy under R.A. No. 6657 and P.D. No. 27

Abstract:

This paper presents the program “Tenant Farmer Assembly” conducted by the Saint Paul School of Professional Studies (SPSPS) law student practitioners which was anchored on the underlying social justice principle of the CARP that hoped to lead to “the liberation of our tillers from the bondage of the soil”. The objectives of the assembly were: (1) to provide the marginalized farmer-tenants access to justice; (2) to help in the implementation of the leasehold system; (3) to orient the farmer-tenants on the relevant provisions of RA 6657 and PD 27; and (4) to impart in the mind of the law student practitioners the value of legal professional responsibility. Adopting the principle of social justice, “in its rational and objectively secular conception”, SPSPS law student practitioners provided legal services, which include legal orientation on the provisions of tenancy, and free legal advice on tenancy issues to the seventy five (75) farmer-tenants from the Municipality of Abuyog, Leyte, being the most vulnerable during the time of economic crisis, and the most exposed to exploitation and abuse due to lack of legal knowledge concerning  their rights under the Tenancy Law.

By: Atty. Ma. Carmela Francia Teoxon Peña (Ateneo de Naga University )

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Migrant Workers’ Rights

Abstract:

In 2017, the Ateneo de Naga University established the College of Law, the same year the Ignatian Legal Apostolate Office (ILAO) opened its doors as the legal aid clinic of the College of Law.  One of ILAO’s primary advocacies is the rights of migrant workers, and it is under this pillar that the Syria Project came to be. The Syria project was a pioneering collaborative initiative from the Ignatian Legal Apostolate Office of the Ateneo de Naga University College of Law, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the International Pro Bono Alliance (iPBA).

This article enforces the rationale behind the revision of the Law Student Practice Rule, it ensures access to justice for the marginalized sectors of society while simultaneously allowing students to be immersed in activities that flesh out the theories learned in the classroom. Students learn by doing as they get to live out academic abstractions found in laws, law books, and jurisprudence. As they learn they are also given holistic formation to be men and women for others, Ignatian servant-lawyers with hearts for service.

Ultimately, the Syria Project is experiential learning at its best. It epitomizes CLEP as an indispensable and pliable avenue for access to justice and the far-reaching impact it promises to have on society even under the unprecedented restrictions of a pandemic.

By: Germane Tayao (Saint Louis University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Alternative Dispute Resolution as a CLE Program

Abstract:

The workshop intends to focus on the different processes and procedures of how a legal aid organization, as assisted by a supervising lawyer and law student practitioners, can conduct a mediation. The workshop consists of an interactive session where the participants are grouped and are asked to mediate a given situation. Towards the end of the workshop, the participants shall be asked to share their manner and method of mediating the case. Ultimately, this workshop intends to create a design of a general framework of ADR practices that law schools may adopt to increase the institutions’ relevance in facilitating ADR in their respective areas.

A typical Filipino files a case before the regular court because they have less, if not no, knowledge of an alternative system to resolve their conflict. Hence, the goal of the event is to expose legal professionals to utilizing ADR with the intention of encouraging and advising their clients to adapt to this uncommon but much-needed platform instead of going to the regular courts.

By: Jarre Gromea (University of St. La Salle)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Revised Rule 138-A

Abstract:

This paper is an autoethnography written from my perspective as a law student practitioner (LSP) undergoing the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP). Here, I share my experiences, thoughts, and reflections during each phase of the Program—from preparations for application to the oath-taking, deployment, and to my first-hand experience engaging in the limited practice of law through Externship.

Using the method of interpretive autoethnography, I narrate my lived experiences as an LSP undergoing Externship in the Courts, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), and the Philippine Mediation Center (PMC). I then take part in a reflective dialogue with my thoughts and emotions as I go through each phase of the Externship program. My personal experiences are treated as data to provide particular insights that might be inaccessible to detached observers. I then expand my discussion from my personal experience to culture, discourse, and ideology.

By: Kenny Bayudan, Gabriel Hernandez (Arellano University  )

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Revised Rule 138-A

Abstract:

This workshop aims to explore the CLEP experience of LSPs in terms of the design and structure of their respective CLEP programs and their perception on its impact on their prospective careers and employment opportunities. It particularly seeks to answer the translation of the CLEP curriculum design of their respective law school and host institution to actual practice, the tasks and activities provided to enrich the CLEP experience, and the LSP’s perception on their field-acquired knowledge and skills and career prospects.

This workshop will be conducted using a focused group discussion (FGD) method. FDG involves gathering people of like-minded people w/ same exp together to discuss a specific topic of interest. This method is appropriate since the workshop will delve into the LSP’s perceptions attitudes, beliefs, opinion and ideas of the CLEP program

By: Jhee Ann Belgica (University of the East)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Revised Rule 138-A

Abstract:

The author of this paper shared the step-by-step process and challenges encountered by law students during the apprenticeship program, starting from the search for an office, agency, or court who agrees to become an apprenticeship provider, up to the challenges she encountered during the period of apprenticeship. She also detailed her first-hand experience of witnessing different stages of criminal and civil proceedings as well as being able to participate in the inventory conducted in the court. In addition, the author shared her observations regarding the benefits of undergoing the apprenticeship program in a regional trial court.

Being able to personally observe the proceedings, the author described in this paper her perspective and realization about the actual practice of law exercised in courts. She also provided insights as to the challenges experienced and innovations exercised by courts in an effort to adjust to the “new normal” brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of technology in ensuring the safety of all the parties involved in the case while carrying out the Constitutional mandate of protecting the right of persons to a speedy disposition of their cases.

By: Atty. Josiah Bagayas (Mariano Marcos State University – College of Law)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Rules of Court, Revised Rule 138-A; Indigency test for Legal Aid

Abstract:

The Indigency Test has been utilized as a criterion to classify litigants according to their socio-economic status. Under the Rules of Court, the said test also serves as a metric to particularly identify parties who may be considered as indigent litigants on the basis of income level and property ownership. As such, it has been used as a yardstick that guides the courts in providing exemptions from the payment of filing fees to qualified litigants. In like manner, the Public Attorney’s Office employs the Indigency Test as a guide to ascertain those who may avail of legal aid services free of charge.

To address the loopholes in ascertaining indigent litigants, this Paper aims to examine and investigate whether income and property ownership are reliable criteria to accurately measure poverty levels and determine indigent litigants. Further, this Paper aims to explore and propose other criteria such as the litigants’ level of expenditure, disposable income, net assets or net worth, among other criteria, to accurately reflect the actual socio-economic status of litigants.

Finally, to thoroughly recalibrate the Indigency Test, this Paper puts forward certain proposals that aim to give judges wider discretion with regard to classifying and identifying indigent litigants as well as the periodic assessment and re-evaluation of income levels and other factors being utilized by the Indigency Test vis-à-vis the recurrent changes in the country’s socio-economic conditions.

By: Atty. Yasmine Lee Tadeo (Saint Louis University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Revised Rule 138-A, Data Privacy Act

Abstract:

The nature of law clinics poses difficulties in the protection of data privacy. These vulnerabilities seem to stem from the constant turnover of personnel specifically students who will have to graduate and would have to endorse unfinished work which contains personal information. The implementation of the mandatory Clinical Legal Education under the Revised Model Law Curriculum under LEBMO No. 24 resulted to more law student practitioners having access to various personal information of clients.

To identify if there are other vulnerabilities that might cause violation of the Data Privacy Act, a privacy impact assessment was conducted to analyze the entire process of the Saint Louis University CJ Moran Community Legal Assistance office (CLAO) to foresee risks to privacy and propose means of avoiding or minimizing these risks. These identified risks were analyzed as to their severity in relation to the Administrative Fines imposed by the National Privacy Commission in Circular 2022-01.  A case analysis of administrative rulings of the National Privacy Commission followed for the purpose of drafting policy changes contained in CLAO’s Manual of Procedure and Guidelines. Findings from this study will be presented to the SLU law clinic to comply with the mandate in Section 9(d) of Rule 138.

By: Atty. Ida Marie Vega Escolano-Canton and Rhoslyn Sagpang (New Era University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Revised Rule 138-A, Modes of Law Clinic Instruction

Abstract:

Legal education is traditionally delivered using in-person Socratic-lecture methodologies, but COVID-19 restrictions forced law schools to adopt fully online modes of delivery. As law schools prepare to reopen, administrators must decide how to best move forward, as students and faculty are divided on whether to resume in-person classes or remain online. This situation presents an opportunity to explore the appropriateness of hyflex as an alternative mode of delivery and as an initial step toward the introduction of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

As ESD involves the rethinking of learning environments, a situational analysis was done to explore the processes involved in transitioning legal education from in-person to online learning, and determine the factors influencing law students’ and professors’ preferences for either in-person or online learning. Document analysis and a focus group discussion was done with selected students, faculty, and administrators (n=6) of a law school in Metro Manila. The document analysis reveals policy support for integrating ESD, given law’s social justice and development underpinnings. Analyzing the FGDs with stakeholders reveals that the essential considerations for hyflex learning such as student choice of learning modality, the equivalency of learning, reusability of learning materials, and provision for technology access to stakeholders are present in legal education, making hyflex an appropriate alternative mode of delivery.

By: Atty. Charlton Romero (De La Salle Lipa College of Law )

Summary:

The workshop facilitators shall provide an overview of curriculum engineering to enhance and tap each LEI’s unique capacities to be compliant with the minimum requirements of the LEB and even go beyond, if they wish. In the implementation of their respective CLE’s, LEIs may identify certain challenges of their respective CLE curriculum in designing, developing, implementing, or evaluating their CLE programs. Certain tools available for curricularists will be explained. The design thinking process may be a tool to find potential solutions or new ways of implementing the LEIs CLE program.

By: Atty. Ernesto Neri (Xavier University Center for Legal Asisstance)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Rules of Court, Revised Rule 138-A

Summary:

This paper reflects on the experience of XUCLA in its initial operation as an entirely online-based legal aid and advocacy center. Specifically, it narrates the experience of establishing and managing an online-based intake form for legal assistance. It outlines the Center’s operational structure that supports both its legal aid and advocacy roles. This paper also suggests strategies for integrating service-learning in teaching the law and designing CLEP. These discussions hope to lay out a template for other law clinics to replicate and improve on.

By: Dean Sherrymae Velos-Decang (Bukidnon State University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Violence Against Women and their Children

Abstract:

This paper will discuss how Bukidnon State University, through its law clinic, has provided trainings for local law enforement agencies to develop their skills and knowledge in effectively responding to VAWC cases.

The first phase of this proposal evaluates the Lupon and the law enforcements’ current knowledge in their procedural role and provide a critical view in involving them in the conversation of gender sensitivity most especially, that it involves violence against women and their children. The second phase is approached through small and large group activities in a span of five (5) of days in cooperation with the RPGRP Region X and more importantly, the local Legal Aid Clinic of the Bukidnon State University- College of Law.

By: Erwin L. Pepino (Liceo de Cagayan University)

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Rules of Court, Revised Rule 138-A

Abstract:

This paper acknowledge the importance of  a Barangay being the basic political unit which primarily serves as planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, projects and programs which include settling dispute among its constituents. These functions of the Barangay are basically anchored by laws which members should have adequate knowledge to fully discharge their duties otherwise they can not perform efficiently and may result to unsound decisions, conflicts, delay in resolutions, and unsettled issues. Random surveys in different barangays in Cagayan de Oro suggest that supplementary legal education is needed by most barangays officials specially in dispute resolution. Corollary, this paper aims to provide access to applicable laws among Barangay workers through the Clinical Legal Education Program of Liceo de Cagayan de Oro College of Law at the same time build a network to Barangay linkages to widen the scope of service and cater to Barangays within the city and beyond its borders.

By: Albertine June M. Dine, Vanessa R. Mawile (Andres Bonifacio College )

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Rules of Court, Revised Rule 138-A

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to identify the (1) challenges preventing law schools from creating their LACs; (2) common things among those who have established LACs and those who have not; and (3) best practices in the context of COVID-19 in Zamboanga Peninsula. The researchers hope that the outcome of this study will serve as a benchmark for other law schools and to inform the policy making body of the Supreme Court regarding the Legal Aid Centers in Zamboanga Peninsula.

This paper surveys and analyzes the implementation by the law schools in Zamboanga Peninsula of Rule 138-A Revised Law Student Practice in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey seeks to find whether the schools have (1) an established Law Clinic; (2) adapted to the pandemic; (3) handled cases; (4) chosen a specialization; (5) externship programs; and (6) applied for level 1 and 2 certification.

By: Atty. Ma. Carmela Peña (Ateneo De Naga University )

Relevant Law or Legal Principle: Environmental Law and Legal Aid Networks

Summary:

The Ignatian Apostolate Legal Office is the lead legal clinic in the Climate Justice Capacity Initiative (CJCI), a consortium of Ateneo law schools that aims to empower stakeholders by holding capacity-building activities about climate change and how the community can utilize environmental laws in the preservation of ecosystems.

One of CJCI’s flagship programs is to cascade the importance of the environmental rule of law to local enforcers so they can fully understand the law and the available remedies. Currently, the student practitioners under ILAO are conducting a barangay caravan in Naga City where they are delivering lectures to the barangay tanods about the proper implementation of the laws especially environmental local ordinances. ILAO has also created a partnership with the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Naga City through the City Environmental and Natural Resources Office and the Sangguniang Panlungsod in updating the different environmental ordinances in the city.

Furthermore, ILAO rendered legal assistance to a local environmental civil society organization (CSO) called They Grey We Green in preventing the cutting of seventy-one (71) trees along a major commercial thoroughfare in Naga City. ILAO provided the necessary research and facilitated the peaceful negotiations between the CSO and the concerned national government agencies (NGAs) and helped in expediting the issuance of the cease and desist order that ultimately averted the cutting of the said trees. 

The proposed workshop aims to serve as the catalyst in deepening the participants’ understanding of climate change and environmental laws through a meaningful discussion of their experiences and challenges encountered during their community engagements and negotiations with CSOs and NGAs. Moreover, the workshop should also demonstrate how Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) is not confined within the legal clinic and courts alone, but it must also involve advocacies that address significant issues in communities.

By: BABSEACLE

More information soon.