The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) has reached more poor clients this year with more lawyers present in almost all courts in Eastern Visayas, an official said on Tuesday.

During the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas press briefing, PAO 8 (Eastern Visayas) head, lawyer Vevelyn Monsanto, said the region now has 145 lawyers serving the poor populace.

“The number of PAO lawyers is increasing. In 2014, we only had 60 PAO lawyers. At present, we have almost met our target of one lawyer per court. We are expecting more lawyers since there is the hiring of our main office of more than 100 lawyers before the year ends,” Monsanto told reporters.

The region has 147 courts being served by lawyers assigned to 27 PAO district offices across six provinces.

From January to June, PAO lawyers handled 9,520 cases, 6,815 of which were criminal cases. The rest were civil, administrative, pending cases in court, and labor cases.

Under Republic Act 9406, the PAO is mandated to render, free of charge, legal representation, assistance, and counseling to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative, and other quasi-judicial cases. (PNA)