Legal aid advocate and neophyte lawmaker Rep. Fidel Nograles (Rizal, 2nd District) revealed that the Lakbay Hustisya Foundation will be offering scholarship grants to law students in exchange for rendering free legal services.
“We are offering scholarship grants to law students nationwide to encourage them to explore advocacy work, specifically in providing legal aid to indigent Filipinos,” said Nograles.
The Lakbay Hustisya Foundation is a legal aid trust fund established by Nograles, a Harvard-trained lawyer. The foundation is an advocate of free legal consultations for poor inmates. It also recently expanded its services by providing free legal consultations online.
The lawmaker said the foundation decided to offer scholarship grants to incentivize students who are willing to “go beyond” what is required by their own schools to serve their fellow Filipinos.
Nograles, since his election to Congress, has been pushing for the institutionalization of legal aid in the country.
The lawmaker has two pending bills seeking to ensure that marginalized sectors have greater access to justice in the country.
House Bill No. 4281 or the Public Attorney’s Office Modernization Act of 2019, seeks to broaden the PAO’s mandate to include free legal assistance to complainants or petitioners.
Meanwhile, House Bill No. 2993 or the Legal Aid Program Act of 2019, would mandate the establishment of legal aid programs in both private and public law schools in the country to augment the services rendered by the PAO and other public offices that offer free legal assistance.
The Lakbay Hustisya Foundation Legal Aid Scholarship for the academic year 2020-2021 is open to all 3rd and 4th-year law students in public and private law schools in the country.
“We believe that the kind of scholars we will attract are exactly those who do not mind putting in the necessary hard work to do something meaningful.”
In exchange for the grant, the awardees must render 50 hours of legal aid per semester.
In cases where the awardee is required to provide legal aid as an academic requirement by their school, the 50-hour service requirement should be fulfilled separately.
The deadline for application is on October 31, 2020.
The lawmaker said the foundation decided to offer scholarship grants to incentivize students who are willing to “go beyond” what is required by their own schools to serve their fellow Filipinos.
“Admittedly, magiging mabigat ang dagdag na responsibilidad para sa mga papasang scholar. But we believe that the kind of scholars we will attract are exactly those who do not mind putting in the necessary hard work to do something meaningful,” Nograles said.