NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
  Legal aid is not a matter of charity.  It is a means for the correction of social 
imbalances that may often lead to injustice, for which reason, it is a public responsibility of the 
Bar.  The spirit of public service should therefore underlie all legal aid offices.  The same 
should be so administered as to give maximum possible assistance to indigent and deserving 
members of the community in all matters and situations in which legal aid may be necessary 
to forestall injustice. 
In order to attain the objectives of legal aid, legal aid office should be as close as 
possible to those who are in need thereof – the masses.  Hence, every chapter of the 
Integrated Bar of The Philippines (IBP) must establish and operate an adequate legal aid 
office.  The clients of IBP Legal Aid are qualified under the same indigency and merits tests 
used by the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO), and would have qualified for PAO assistance, but 
for reasons other than indigency, are disqualified from availing of the services of the PAO, like 
the existence of conflict of interests or conflicting defenses and other similar causes.  However, 
unlike PAO clients, the clients of IBP Legal aid are not exempt from payment of docket fees 
and other fees incidental to instituting an action in court. 
This bill seeks to exempt IBP Legal Aid clients from payment of docket fees and other 
fees incidental to instituting an action in courts and other agencies considering that they are 
indigent. 
In view thereof, immediate approval of this Bill is sought. 
 RUFUS B. RODRIGUEZ 
January 11, 2023
6:18 pm
6761


NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) 
First Regular Session 
) 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez 
House Bill No.  _____ 
AN ACT  
MAKING IBP LEGAL AID CLIENTS EXEMPT FROM PAYMENT OF DOCKET FEES AND 
OTHER FEES  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled. 
Section 1. Declaration of Policy. – It is the declared policy of the State to give 
maximum possible assistance to indigent and deserving members of the community in all 
matters and situations in which legal aid may be necessary to forestall injustice. 
Section 2. IBP Legal Aid Clients Exempt from Payment of Docket and Other Fees. 
-
All clients of Integrated Bar of the Philippines Legal Aid Offices shall be exempt from
payment of docket, filing and other fees in cases before the courts, quasi-judicial agencies,
prosecutor’s offices and mediation centers.
Section 3. Implementing Rules and Regulations.  The Integrated Bar of the 
Philippines shall promulgate the rules and regulations for the effective enforcement of the 
provisions of this Act. 
Section 4. Separability Clause. – Should any provision of this Act or any part thereof 
be declared invalid, the other provisions, so far as they are separable from the invalid ones, 
shall remain in full force and effect.  
Section 5. Repealing Clause. -  All laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations or 
parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
Section 6.   Effectivity.  -  This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
6761