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THE Public Attorney's Office (PAO) has been continually conducting medical-legal outreach programs for "neglected" cultural minorities in the provinces, its chief, Persida Rueda-Acosta, said on Tuesday.
Since January this year, Rueda-Acosta said personnel from the agency's central office have been working hand in hand with their counterparts in PAO's regional offices to ensure the success of the missions that would benefit the members of the Indigenous peoples (IPs).
The first leg of PAO's legal-medical mission took place in the "Ayta" community in Botolan, Zambales, on Jan. 7, which served 161 tribesmen, while another 181, the following day in Hermosa, Bataan.
Meanwhile, 142 members of the "Badjao" community in Cebu province benefited from PAO's free medical consultations and medicines as well as legal assistance on Jan. 31.
On the same day, PAO's deputy chief public attorney Erwin Erfe, concurrent director of the agency's Forensics Laboratory Division, said their team went to an ati community, also in Cebu, where 87 of its members availed of the free services.
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Erfe also said he and the chief public attorney led a team to a Obu-Manuvu tribe, where 114 tribesmen benefited from the medical-legal outreach program in Barangay Magsaysay, Marilog, Davao City, on March 10.
The following day, PAO's team proceeded to Barangay Baganihan, also in the same municipality, where they served members of the Matigsalug tribe, where some 127 members had benefited.
Erfe said PAO's medical personnel attended to the cultural minorities whose common medical conditions include upper respiratory tract infections, hypertension, arthritis/musculoskeletal disorders and allergies including skin infections.
On legal matters, the PAO official said most of those who sought for assistance had problems on birth and death certificates.
"Of course, they have common problems regarding land issues, and our public lawyers, especially in PAO's regional offices, would be fully attending to them," Erfe told The Manila Times via Viber.
Rueda-Acosta said her agency has decided to put focus on the interest of the cultural minorities although similar outreach programs would continue particularly in detention facilities and depressed communities nationwide.
"These IPs are neglected groups, that's why we are helping them. We make sure that all sectors of society would not be left behind as far as the free medical and legal services of PAO are concerned," she told this newspaper.
Rueda-Acosta said that PAO's direction and goal have been changed over the years as its personnel are the ones that reach out to the Filipino people.
"Long time ago, PAO would only serve those who went to its offices for legal assistance but now, we are the ones that visit places to reach out to our indigent kababayan (countrymen)," she said.
