Lawyers give share in aid for victims of Yolanda

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—A group of lawyers is offering legal services for minimal fees that would be donated for victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Twenty-two lawyers from Batangas, Laguna and southern parts of Metro Manila volunteered as “lawyers for Yolanda survivors” in a half-day legal clinic and fundraising initiative.

In a matter of hours, they raised P11,000 and served 22 clients with legal concerns, ranging from annulment and child custody, to bouncing checks and taxation.

“What’s good is that the expertise of the group is spread out from family law to banking and taxation, criminal law and civil litigation,” said lawyer Kate Soto-Jacinto, 31.

Jacinto, who is from this town, organized the activity in coordination with Alabang New Life Christian Center in Muntinlupa City, where the clinic was held on Dec. 7. The church has a center in Tacloban City that now serves as a relief center after it was ruined by  Yolanda on Nov. 8.

Most of the volunteer lawyers, among them known litigation lawyer Raymond Fortun, are graduates of the University of the Philippines and Ateneo Law School. Earlier, on Nov. 23, a similar legal clinic was held in UP Diliman, Quezon City, organized by Jacinto’s batch mates in law school.

The walk-in clients were asked to donate a minimum of P500. Some, like the security and maintenance personnel of the Christian church who could not afford the fee, came in “sponsored” by other people. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon