“…understanding and open-minded…” – that’s two of the characters a person should have to take the path of being a Paralegal Aide as stated by one of the elderly inmates at Legazpi City Jail.
The line was one of the notable quotes stated by one of the inmates who participated at the the Paralegal Aide Training to person’s deprived of liberty at Legazpi City Jail. The training is facilitated by the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. (HLAF) scholar, Ms. Danica Nol, and through the help of Jail Outreach Commission of the University of Santo Tomas – Legazpi College of Law.
In the month long training, the training is divided to five sessions discussing the (1) orientation and paralegal ethics, (2) introduction to law and the pillars of criminal justice system, (3) criminal procedure, (4) modes of release and (5) affidavit making. Among the 23 participants during the training, three participants are trained HLAF Paralegal Aide. One of the newly trained Paralegal Aide thanked the facilitators for conducting such training for the inmates as they don’t know much of the legal processes.
“Salamat madam, dai mi man kaya aram mi man kaya aram kun ano ang paga-iristuryahan mi tungkol sa kaso mi ta bukod sa iriba iba man ang kaso, dai mi man iyan maray nasabutan pirmi. (Thank you, Madam. We don’t actually know what to talk about our cases because aside from the variety of cases, we also do not understand it well).” the Paralegal Aide quoted pertaining to the training being conducted.
One of the participants, on the question on what other character must a Paralegal Aide have, answered, “Dapat po maging mapag-pasensya din, lalo na kapag may mga bago sa dorm kasi madalas sila yung lagi talagang magkukwento tungkol sa kaso at pagkakahuli sa kanila.”
Most of the participants concluded that in their function as Paralegal Aides, they must have full respect to there fellow inmates without prejudices. Jail Paralegal Officer, JO1 John Paul Calleja, also used the training as an opportunity to encourage them to help him in documenting every dorm’s cases and for the inmates to discuss among themselves any question on there cases for efficient following-up.
The participants were all grateful to be part of the activity and hoped to be enlightened more on the following sessions.
The training is facilitated by HLAF’s scholar, Ms. Danica Nol, and volunteers from Jail Outreach Commission, Ms. Celver Joy Tamparia, Ms. Mary Acobera and Ms. Catherine Tadije and they also provided the training kit during the Paralegal Aide training. The training started from February 5, 2018 and will commence until March 5, 2018 and will be held every Monday.
