[ PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1725, September 26, 1980 ]
INCREASING THE NUMBER OF LAWYERS OF THE CITIZENS LEGAL ASSISTANCE OFFICE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
WHEREAS, the Citizens Legal Assistance Office is presently organized into 96 Regional and District Offices situated in different centers throughout the country, and is handling for indigents more than 50,000 new cases every year;
WHEREAS, there is still a large segment of our indigent population, specially those living in the remote areas, who cannot avail of the services of the Citizens Legal Assistance Office because of the distance of its offices from their respective residences, and the lack of an adequate number of CLAO lawyers;
WHEREAS, there is a need to extend the services of the Citizens legal Assistance Office to all indigent citizens to make our constitutional guarantees a living reality for them;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, BY virtue of the power vested in me under the Constitution, hereby order and decree as follows:
SEC. 1. The Citizens Legal Assistance Office shall establish a District Office in every city or municipality where a branch of the Court of First Instance is located. In accomplishing this objective, there shall be created positions of Supervising Citizens attorneys, Senior Citizens attorneys, District Citizens attorneys, Citizens attorneys, Senior stenographers, and Clerks, m such number as may be necessary and as may be determined under pertinent organization law.
SEC. 2. The compensation of the positions created under this Decree shall be determined pursuant to P.D. No. 985 and 1726.
SEC. 3. To carry out the provisions of this Decree, the sum of seven million two hundred thousand pesos (P7,200,000) is hereby authorized to be released out of the Special Activities Fund to cover costs incurred in 1980 and 1981.
Counsels, the Assistant Chief State Prosecutors, Regional State Prosecutors the officers next in rank to the above-mentioned heads of bureaus/commissions offices under the Ministry, and the City fiscal of Manila and Quezon City
and Fourth Brackets of State Corporate Attorneys, LRC Senior Research Attorney,
LRC Assistant Chief Deeds Registry Inspector, LRC Deputy Clerk of Court, Registers of Deeds II, Deputy Registers of Deeds III, Land Registration Special Assistant, CID, and NBI Assistant Chief Legal Officers, NBI and CLAO Chief Research Attorneys. District Citizens
Attorneys, Bureau of Prisons Legal Officer II, State Counsels I, State Prosecutors I and II, Third Assistant City Fiscals of Manila and Quezon City, Second Assistant Provincial/City Fiscals of First Class A Provinces/Cities, First Assistant Provincial/City Fiscals of First Class B/C Provinces/Cities, Provincial/City Fiscals of Second Class Provinces/Cities
Second Assistant Provincial/City Fiscals of Second Class Provinces/Cities, First Assistant Provincial/City Fiscals of Third/Fourth, Class Provinces /Cities, Provincial/City Fiscals of Fifth Class Provinces/Cities
SEC. 4. Office of the Solicitor General. The salary of legal positions in the Office of the Solicitor General shall be upgraded in a manner similar to that approved for the Ministry of Justice under Sec. 3 hereof.
SEC. 5. Other Agencies of Government. The compensation of legal positions in the Office of the President, Ministry of Agrarian Reform, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of the Budget, and other agencies of Government, shall be studied by the Ministry of the Budget through the Office of Compensation and Position Classification, which shall prepare a plan for rationalizing and upgrading such positions, in a manner consistent with that for the Ministry of Justice under Sec. 3 hereof.
SEC. 6. Guidelines. The following guidelines shall be observed in implementing the plan for rationalizing and upgrading judicial/legal salaries:
- The principle of equal pay for equal work shall be observed among agencies of the national government, such that salary or compensation increased shall be adopted for all positions of comparable qualifications and work load, for all agencies in which such positions exists
- Proposals shall be formulated and submitted, taking into account the funds available for salary adjustments in government. No savings in personal service, in maintenance and operating expenditures, or in capital outlays, may be used for the creation of new positions or upgrading of the compensation of positions;
- Existing vacant positions may be abolished and the amount budgeted for the compensation of the said positions may be used for the reclassification or for upgrading salaries of the remaining positions;
- Superiors shall enjoy a higher salary than subordinate positions, except where specifically approved by the President for highly technical positions;
- After adjustment, the salary of Career Executive Service positions shall continue to be higher than those who do not belong to the Service.
SEC. 7. Funding Source. The amounts needed to cover any salary increases approved as a consequence of this Decree shall be charged to the Salary Adjustment Fund, except when otherwise approved by the President (Prime Minister).
SEC. 8. Repeal Clause. All laws, decrees and orders or any part thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed and/or modified accordingly.
SEC. 9. Effectivity. This Decree shall be immediately effective.
Done in the City of Manila, this 26th Day of September, in the Year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty.
(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA Senior Presidential Assistant