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The CLAO, by the very nature of its mission, has very distinguished forebears. The seed grew in 1954 in response to the agrarian turmoil of that era. By virtue of Republic Act No. 1199, the Agricultural Tenancy Commission was created to provide legal assistance to agricultural tenants. Later it was renamed Tenancy Mediation Commission (TMC).
Under Republic Act No. 3844, known as "Agricultural Land Reform Code", the TMC was reconstituted and renamed Office of the Agrarian Counsel (OTAC). A shift from strictly agrarian concerns to legal aid was made possible by Presidential Decree No. 1 and Implementation Order No. 4 dated October 23, 1972 with the creation of the Citizen's Legal Assistance Office (CLAO). The functions of CLAO has been expanded to include civil, administrative, criminal and labor cases as well.
Under its enabling law, the CLAO is mandated to represent, free of charge, indigent persons. The same law provides that agrarian cases are to be handled by the Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance and labor cases by the Department of Labor. Subsequently, the Department of Justice entered in MOIs with the Department of Labor and the Department of Agrarian Reform whereby it was agreed that the CLAO may extend legal assistance in agrarian and labor cases.
The CLAO then headed by Atty. Oskar M. Ontimare, started out with a workforce of 94 lawyers and an organizational setup comprised of 10 regional and 26 district offices.
On December 16, 1975, Atty. Reynold S. Fajardo assumed the position of Chief Citizen's Attorney and it was during his tenure (1975-1997) that the Administrative Code of 1987 was enacted. Under said legislation, CLAO was renamed PUBLIC ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - (PAO) (PAO) and the title Chief Citizen's Attorney then became Chief Public Attorney. The change, being merely nominal, did not alter the mandated powers and functions of the office.
Through the years, more lawyers were recruited and additional offices were created to meet the ever-growing need for legal assistance of the marginalized sector. As of this writing the office has an authorized workforce of 964 lawyers and complement staff distributed among 16 regional offices, 252 district offices and 6 sub-district offices, strategically located nationwide.
The PUBLIC ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - (PAO) has indeed come a long way from its humble beginnings but the quest for excellence beckons and the road towards it is, and always was, admittedly, not a smooth one. Despite the odds, PAO would continue in its mission to uphold justice and equality for, and on behalf of the less-privileged of Philippine society whom it is committed to serve.
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