THE LOCAL VOLUNTARY BAR ASSOCIATION OF LAS PINAS CITY AS A PILLAR OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
By:
Atty. MANUEL J. LASERNA JR., AB, LLB, LLM
Chairman, Las Pinas City Bar Association (LPBA), Inc.
Vice President, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) –
Pasay Paranaque Las Pinas Muntinlupa (PPLM) Chapter
Professor of Law, Far Eastern University
I thank the editors of the student newspaper of the College of Law of the University of Perpetual Help Rizal (UPHR) for linking up with the Las Pinas City Bar Association (LPBA), Inc. and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) – Pasay Paranaque Las Pinas Muntinlupa (PPLM) Chapter.
A firm partnership between the law academe and the local Bar helps promote legal education, the rule of law, and the administration of justice.
Upon request, the LPBA is prepared to assist the UPHR College of Law through a legal apprenticeship program, a legal aid clinic program, a mentoring program, law articles, lectures and symposia, and the other related forms of assistance.
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As the chairman of the Las Pinas City Bar Association (LPBA), Inc., I represent Las Pinas City in the board of directors of the district-wide Pasay Paranaque Las Pinas Muntinlupa (PPLM) Chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). I am the incumbent vice president of the IBP PPLM Chapter and the incoming Chapter President for the term 2007-2009.
The LPBA is the official working arm and link of the IBP in Las Pinas City.
A professor of law of UPHR College of Law, Atty. Myrna C. Mercader, is the auditor of the IBP PPLM Chapter. She teaches Taxation Law at the UPHR College of Law and finance and business subjects at the UPHR Graduate School. She is a professor of law of Far Eastern University (FEU) and Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and a name partner of the Laserna Cueva-Mercader & Associates Law Offices (LCM Law) of Las Pinas City.
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The membership of the LPBA is open to law students of the UPHR as “associate members”. The first UPHR law student who has applied as an associate member of the LPBA is Machelle Laserna-Adricula. Last June, she attended the free lecture given by the En Banc Executive Clerk of Court of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), Atty. Apollo Sangalang, on recent jurisprudential and procedural developments in Labor Law held under the auspices by the LPBA at a restaurant in BF Resort Village.
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The LPBA sponsors an annual Bench-Bar Dialogue (BBD) among the pillars of the Criminal Justice System of Las Pinas City to discuss ways of improving the administration of justice in the city, especially the issues of cost-effective access to justice, delays in the litigation of cases, over-crowded city jail, human rights of the accused and detention prisoners, and other related issues.
The next BBD of the city will be held on November 11, 2005, Friday, from 8 AM to 6 PM at the residential garden of Rep. Cynthia Villar in BF Resort Village, Las Pinas City.
The co-sponsors of the BBD are the IBP PPLM Chapter, the Office of the Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Las Pinas City, the Office of Rep. Cynthia Villar, and the Office of Mayor Imelda Aguilar.
The lecturers during the BDB will be the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court, Hon. Presbitero Velasco; an Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals, Hon. Arcangelita Lontok, who is a founding member of the LPBA like her deceased spouse, Fiscal Pacifico Lontok; Rep. Cynthia Villar; Mayor Imelda Aguilar; and four Judges of the Regional Trial Court of Las Pinas City, namely, Hon. Joselito DJ Vibandor (Executive Judge), Hon. Elizabeth Y. Guray, Hon. Raul Villanueva and Hon. Erlinda Alvaro.
The focus of the BBD lectures will be updates in Criminal Procedure and the Supreme Court’s Action Program for Judicial Reform (APJR). The BBD is accredited by the Committee on Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) of the Supreme Court. I invite the law faculty of UPHR to attend the BBD. The subsidized MCLE registration fee is only P1, 000 per lawyer.
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The LPBA and the IBP PPLM Chapter are accredited Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) service providers.
Bar Matter No. 850 commands all lawyers to complete at least 36 MCLE credit units every 3 years. The Committee on MCLE of the Supreme Court enforces the MCLE rules and its sanctions.
The next MCLE seminar of the IBP PPLM Chapter will be held on November 24, 2005, Thursday, from 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM at the Heritage Hotel, Pasay City, on the “2005 Revised Rules of Procedure of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC)”, with the NLRC Chairman himself, Hon. Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio Jr., and his Executive Clerk of Court, Atty. Apollo Sangalang, as the lecturers.
I invite the law faculty of UPHR to attend the seminar. The subsidized MCLE registration fee is only P1, 200 per person.
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There are five pillars of the Criminal Justice System, according to the Supreme Court, namely, Law Enforcement (PNP, NBI, etc.), Prosecution (Public Prosecutors, Public Attorneys Office, Ombudsman, the Bar), Judiciary (Trial Courts, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Supreme Court), Rehabilitation (Jail and Penology, Pardons and Parole, DSWD), and Community (Media, NGOs, POs.).
I advocate the inclusion of Legislature (local and national) as the sixth pillar and the Law Academe as the seventh pillar.
The effective, efficient, ethical, fair, speedy, just and inexpensive administration and dispensation of justice require the close cooperation and firm partnership among the various pillars of the Justice System.
The Bar and the Law Academe are important cogs in the wheels of justice.
To learn the efforts of the Supreme Court to reform the Criminal Justice System, visit the website of the Program Management Office (PMO) of the Supreme Court by clicking the PMO link in the website of the Supreme Court at www.supremecourt.gov.ph. (A law student must make it a habit to regularly visit the Supreme Court website and download its recent decisions and issuances).
To contact the IBP PPLM Chapter, call or fax Tel/Fax Nos. 831-1477 and 832-7993.
To contact the LPBA, call or fax Tel/Fax Nos. 8742539 and 8725443. Email the LPBA thru lcmlaw@gmail.com. Join the LPBA eGroup at http://groups.msn.com/laspinascitybarassociation.
The website of the IBP national office is www.ibp.org.ph. Visit it regularly.
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