MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has authorized the release of P7.5 million to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the government-recognized association of all the country’s lawyers, for its free legal assistance program for indigent and pauper litigants.
The amount represented the Court’s first-quarter allocation for the IBP’s P30-million Expanded Legal Aid Program Subsidy for 2013, according to a resolution by the Court released on Friday.
In the resolution, the high tribunal said the amount would be released “subject to the usual liquidation requirements in accordance with accounting and auditing rules and regulations.”
The Court’s latest resolution, however, reminded the IBP “to maximize utilization of its subsidy; otherwise, only the amount liquidated shall be released to them as quarterly subsidy beginning the next quarter.”
It also directed the IBP to study the possibility of reallocating the annual P30-million subsidy to its two programs, namely: Legal Aid and the Commission on Bar Discipline.
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