Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Lawyers ‘got it wrong’ By Giovanni A. Nilles Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CEBU’S lawyers got it all wrong.” This was how Ismael Khan, Supreme Court information officer, reacted when asked if the High Court justices met yesterday to discuss the increase in legal fees.
“It is not true that the new rates are prohibitive to the poor. It only broadened the exemptions and benefits of our less-fortunate Filipinos…in fact, those that are not earning the minimum wage are even exempted from paying the fees,” he said.
But lawyer Democrito Barcenas, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter, maintained that the fees are unrealistic.
“If the minimum wage in Cebu, for example, is P8,000 and we have a breadwinner who earns P8,100 but has seven members in his family, do you think he can still afford the fees?”
Both Khan and Barcenas could not confirm whether the Supreme Court en banc took up in a session yesterday the concerns of the Cebuano lawyers.
Deputy Court Administrator Christopher Lock, who reportedly promised to raise the protest to the High Court last Monday, could not say if this was really among the concerns the magistrates discussed.
He added that none of the IBP chapters or the executive judges in the Mindanao regions raised any complaint about the fees.
“It’s only Cebu that is really active on this,” he also said.
25% pay hike
In a long-distance phone interview, Khan admitted that the Supreme Court has to depend on its resources if it wants to grant the 25-percent increase it promised to judges this year.
All the increments, about 100 percent of what a judge or a justice is currently receiving, but spread over four years, have to be taken from the increase in legal fees.
“Ang tatamaan lang naman dyan (The ones who are going to be affected) would be the rich people who are suing each other. The poor are spared from this,” Khan said.
He pointed out that previously, only those that earned below P3,000 per month were exempted from paying the legal fees.
This time, however, the exemption was broadened to include those earning below the minimum wage or are living below the poverty line. Proof of income has to be shown to benefit from the exemption, Khan added.
Although he did not cite the exact wording of the administrative order issued by the Supreme Court on this matter, he said that the exemptions would even, in some cases, benefit those living slightly above the poverty line.
Fund source
While Administrator Lock did not dismiss the possibility that the increase can still be suspended and reviewed, the process will take a long time.
He added that a special team was created to study the effect of an increase in legal fees.
Lock, who acts as a deputy court administrator for Mindanao, also said that he has not received any complaint from the lawyers’ groups or from the executive.
“This all boils down to looking for sources of funds to increase the allowances given to our judges and justices. The (national) government really doesn’t have any funds for this,” he said.
Cebu-based lawyers marched to the Palace of Justice last Monday to protest the increase in legal fees, which they said defeats the constitutional guarantee of free access to the courts.
They also asked for a suspension and a thorough review of the matter to make the rates truly reasonable and acceptable.
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