Nationwide round-up

Solon files bill to improve emergency medical services

A LAWMAKER has filed a bill which aims to strengthen the country’s emergency medical services through the establishment of a council that will set standards and protocols for response. House Bill No. 295 or the Emergency Medical Services System Act, filed by Tarlac 2nd District Rep Victor A. Yap, also mandates all local government units (LGUs) to have adequate emergency vehicles or ambulances as well as qualified personnel. LGUs are also required to build dispatch centers where citizens can call for different emergency situations. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

SC approves publication of list of MCLE non-compliant lawyers

THE SUPREME Court (SC) has approved the publication in newspapers of the list of lawyers who fail to comply with the continuing education requirement. The rule is contained in Resolution No. 06-2019 of the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Governing Boards. In the notice containing the approval, the SC said, “The noncompliant lawyers shall be given sixty (60) days from the publication within which to provide proof of compliance, otherwise, they shall be considered as delinquent and shall not be permitted to practice law.” In a separate notice, the SC also approved MCLE Governing Board Resolution No. 05-2019, which exempts all incumbent and retired members of the Judiciary from MCLE. Bar Matter 850 requires continuing legal education to all members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines “to ensure that throughout their career, they keep abreast with law and jurisprudence, maintain the ethics of the profession and enhance the standards of the practice of law.” — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Bill filed on separate prison for heinous crime convicts

HOUSE MAJORITY leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez has filed House Bill No. 4683, titled Separate Facility for Heinous Crimes Act, which would establish a Maximum Penal Institution. “Recent news events prove and confirm the failure of the present treatment program and detention security measures of the Bureau of Corrections in the matter of containing and preventing high-level illegal-drugs inmates from continuing their possession, trading, and trafficking of illegal drugs while under detention,” said Mr. Romualdez in his explanatory note. Under the bill, the Maximum Penal Institution — one each in the island clusters of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao — shall be built in a location to be determined by the Department of Justice, preferably within a military establishment or in an island away from the mainland to ensure there is no contact from those outside the penal institution.” — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras