Press Release
September 14, 2022

Tolentino urges DOJ Sec. Remulla to monitor the implementation of the Free Legal Assistance Act of 2010

On Wednesday, 14 September 2022, the Commission on Appointments deliberated on the appointment of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, the Chairman of the Committee on Justice and a member of the Commission on Appointments, urged DOJ Secretary Remulla to get a hold of and monitor the implementation of Republic Act No. 9999, otherwise known as the "Free Legal Assistance Act of 2010."

According to Sen. Tolentino, the said law grants free legal assistance to indigent litigants and grants lawyers or professional partnerships rendering actual free legal services an allowable deduction from their gross income the amount that could have been collected for the actual free legal services rendered or up to 10% of the gross income derived from the actual performance of the legal profession, whichever is lower.

The said law was signed back in 2010 by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. However, as of date, the law still remains unimplemented as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has yet to release the necessary implementing rules and regulations for the application of the law.

Sen. Tolentino later said that the implementation of the law would encourage lawyers to provide free legal services. In turn, this would assist in the promotion of justice in the country.

Sen. Tolentino is the Founder of the Philippine Legal Justice Center, Inc. (PLJC), a non-stock non-profit corporation that renders free adequate and accessible legal assistance to indigent litigants.

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