CEU Law Office of the Legal Aid secures legal victory anew in Metro Manila courts

Eduard M. Riparip

Established with the goal of providing free legal representation to the marginalized, the CEU School of Law and Jurisprudence-Office of the Legal Aid (OLA) has consistently secured legal victory in different cases it represents. These cases are handled by Junior and Senior law students who were granted limited practice of law under the Revised Law Student Practice Rule (A.M. No. 19-03-24-SC) promulgated by the Supreme Court en banc on June 25, 2019. Said Rule states that a law student must be certified to be able to engage in the limited practice of law.

CEU OLA’s legal wins

On June 27, 2023, CEU OLA’s client was cleared of violation of Sec. 5(i) of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children (Anti-VAWC) after Hon. Jacqueline Martin-Balictar, Presiding Judge of Manila Regional Trial CourtBranch 9, granted the Demurrer to Evidence filed by the CEU Legal Aid. The grant of the Demurrer is equivalent to an acquittal of the accused. The Court ratiocinated that “the prosecution miserably failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

Behind the win of the said case were Senior Law Student Practitioner Abigael Derecho and Junior Law Student Practitioners Brian Lacorte and Paolo Ongsiako. They were under the supervision of Atty. Eduard M. Riparip, their Supervising Lawyer.

Meanwhile, on May 19, 2023, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc granted the Motion for Reconsideration (MR) filed by the CEU Legal Aid interns, asking the election body to reverse the previous ruling of the COMELEC Second Division that annulled the election of a Manila Sangguniang Kabataan Chairman-client for misrepresenting that she is a registered voter. In granting the MR, the COMELEC en banc reinstated the SK Chairman to her public position, citing that she was able to prove with substantial evidence that she is a registered voter.

The COMELEC en banc noted that she got married when she ran for SK Chairman, and that she used her husband’s surname. This is the reason why her name cannot be found on the voter’s list since she used her husband’s. The election body also stated that under the Civil Code, a married woman can use her maiden first name and surname and add her husband’s surname; or her maiden first name and her husband’s surname; or her husband’s full name, but prefixing a word indicating that she is his wife, such as “Mrs.”

The election case was handled by then Senior legal intern and now Atty. Liezl Gonzales, with the direct supervision of Atty. Edrian Apaya.

On August 19, 2022, a teacher-client was acquitted of the crime of unjust vexation for failure of the prosecution to prove the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The decision was promulgated by Hon. Emilio R. Gonzales III, Presiding Judge of Mandaluyong Metropolitan Trial Court-

Criminal cases provisionally dismissed

On January 25, 2023, Hon. Teodoro S. Carbonera, Presiding Judge of Las Piñas Metropolitan Trial Court-Branch 121, provisionally dismissed the slight physical injuries case against CEU OLA’s security guard-client.

Also, another client secured provisional dismissal of his case of AntiVAWC. Hon. Martin-Balictar of Manila RTC-Branch 9, granted the dismissal. Both cases were supervised by Atty. Riparip together with legal interns Abigael Derecho, Ken Gen-sen Chua, and Marinela Dimog.

The CEU Office of the Legal Aid is currently spearheaded by Atty. Maria Corazon D. Garciano, the new Director. Some of the won cases handled by the CEU OLA were under the previous directorship of Atty. Edrian Apaya, former CEU OLA Director.