Western Visayas’ lack of prosecutors worsens

ILOILO CITY—The lack of government prosecutors in Western Visayas is worsening as more prosecutors are either resigning, retiring or dying but are not being replaced, according to a regional state prosecutor based here.

“The shortage has been going on for years, but it has worsened in recent years,” said Domingo Laurea Jr., regional state prosecutor.

Laurea said the region had only 89 of 211 required prosecutors.

The worst shortage is in Antique province, which has only one provincial prosecutor of 14 required. Iloilo province has nine out of 24 required while Negros Occidental  province has only eight.

In Aklan province, only five of 22 prosecutor posts are filled  while Guimaras province is short of a prosecutor to fill  three positions. The Office of the Regional Prosecutor in this city has only three prosecutors with three vacant posts.

Laurea said the main cause of the shortage was the delay in the acceptance of applicants who had been recommended to fill the vacant positions. Prosecutors are appointed by the Office of the President upon the recommendation of the Department of Justice.

But he said there had been fewer applicants in recent years as most lawyers would rather go into private practice.

While the basic salary of public prosecutors has doubled in recent years, many lawyers are still lured into private practice.

“Some prosecutors would even accept posts with a lower salary grade in the judiciary because of the additional allowances,” Laurea said.

He said another reason was the rule that required applicants for prosecutor positions to have a minimum of five years of legal practice.

“Lawyers tend to become stable and stick to private practice after five years in the profession. That is why almost all of our applicants come from the public attorney’s office,” Laurea said.