A Senate finance subpanel deferred the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) budget after Chief Public Attorney Dr. Persida Acosta failed to attend the chamber’s hearing on the agency’s proposed 2026 funding.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, head of the Senate finance panel, said he received a letter from Acosta explaining that she could not attend the Tuesday hearing due to official travel abroad.
‘As a matter of procedure, we always require the head of the office to present their budget. This has been the practice for many years and across numerous budget briefings. In fact, many agency heads have had to cancel trips to present their budgets personally,’ he said.
The senator emphasized that the requirement is ‘very strictly observed in the Senate.’
‘So with that, we will defer the budget of the PAO today. We will request from them a date that is convenient and a date that will enable Dr. Acosta to come here to the Senate to present her budget personally,’ Gatchalian said.
PAO exists to provide indigent litigants, as well as oppressed, marginalized, and underprivileged members of society, with free access to courts and judicial or quasi-judicial agencies.
It offers legal services such as counseling and assistance, in line with the constitutional mandate that ‘free access to courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty,’ ensuring the rule of law, truth, and social justice as integral components of the country’s sustainable development. /mcm