By: Margaret Padilla
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Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), clarified on Monday that it was not the PAO that filed the disqualification petition against reality TV and public service personality Rafael “Raffy” Tulfo before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“There are some quarters that point to us as the one that filed the disqualification case against Mr. RT (in reference to Tulfo). No, we are not,” she said.
Rueda-Acosta said it was instead Tulfo’s former wife, Julieta Licup-Pearson, who filed the said petition to disqualify Tulfo as a senatorial candidate.
The PAO chief expects Tulfo to make a genuine and public apology. “All we want is for Mr. RT to issue a public apology, but he has yet to do so,” she said.
It was worth noting that Tulfo confronted PAO lawyers of absenteeism and having failed to attend inquest proceedings for complainants referred to them by his television program earlier this month.
Moreover, Tulfo stated recently that one of the reasons he wanted to set up a free legal aid center if the elected senator was the alleged non-performance of PAO lawyers.
As a result, Rueda-Acosta lambasted Tulfo and asked him to stop using her agency to boost his political agenda.
PAO has documented its lawyers’ attendance at police stations and inquest proceedings “even during [the] wee hours, seven days a week,” she asserted.
“Where did he get that fallacy, what’s his proof because it is grossly unfair for our hard-working public attorneys, some are even sick and had contracted Covid-19 but would continue to perform their duty even during this Covid-19 pandemic and our records will prove it,” Rueda-Acosta said.
During her two decades as a chief public attorney, the PAO chief assured that she had been strict with all PAO personnel, particularly lawyers. She ensured that they were regularly and promptly assisting the impoverished Filipinos to the best of their ability.