THE PUBLIC Attorney’s Office (PAO) has asked President Rodrigo R. Duterte to veto a provision in the 2020 budget that does not provide funding and limits other allocations from being used for its forensics laboratory.

In a letter dated Dec. 11, PAO cited that the P19.5 million allotted for the purchase of forensic laboratory equipment was deleted from the 2020 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

It added that there is a provision inserted in the General Appropriations bill that restricts PAO from using its maintenance and other operating expenses budget “to the effect that no funds may be used for the meetings and other maintenance and operating expenses of the PAO Forensic Laboratory.”

“These modifications in the President’s budget or the NEP have only one objective — to paralyze the PAO Forensic Laboratory and jeopardize its operations, depriving them the opportunity to assist the clients of the PAO,” the letter read.

It noted that it “cannot help but wonder” if the said modifications was “an act averse to the PAO’s and Administration’s efforts” in handling cases related to deaths allegedly due to Dengvaxia.

PAO said the deletion of certain allocations is unconstitutional because the Philippines Constitution mandates free access to courts and adequate free legal assistance.

“The changes in the budget would lead to its clients’ failure to present forensic evidence in their case,” it said.

“Securing the services of private practitioners to challenge the NBI’s/PNP’s/CHR’s (National Bureau of Investigation/Philippine National Police/Commission on Human Rights) forensic findings would be to practically deny PAO clients of such opportunity — because they are, in the first place, indigents,” PAO said.

“The inevitable consequence thereof is the denial of adequate legal assistance to PAO clients by reason of their poverty,” it added.

It would also violate the proprietary rights of the office’s eight complement plantilla personnel.

PAO said the Forensic Laboratory Division was created by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and is a “small unit” under the Office of the Chief Public Attorney.

“We humbly reiterate that the 2018 GAA (General Appropriations Act) gave the DBM the power to approve minor changes in the organizational structure and staffing pattern of agencies, and create positions up to a division chief and equivalent level under the Executive branch — the legal basis for the change in the structure of the Office of the Chief Public Attorney,” it said.

The letter was signed by PAO Chief Persida V. Rueda-Acosta and seven other officers. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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