By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
QUEZON CITY — The Public Attorney’s Office! (PAO) on Wednesday (Oct. 16) met with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), together with its private contractors, and the National Housing Authority (NHA) to thoroughly deliberate the completion of its new high-rise building in a 5,175-square-meter property on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.
Along with Deputy Chiefs Ana Liza Soriano and Erwin Erfe, PAO Chief Dr. Persida Rueda-Acosta called for a meeting with the representatives of both agencies at the PAO Headquarters to thresh out the details of the ongoing construction.
“In April 2019, five years and five months after, the building is now in its finishing stage. It really took that long,” Rueda-Acosta said.
“We will keep on praying. Let us leave everything to God,” she added.
On April 26, 2019, the DPWH formally started the construction of the new PAO Central Office at the National Government Center along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.
In May 2017, the PAO entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the DPWH and the NHA for the preparation of the required architectural designs and building engineering plans.
A PHP900-million fund was allocated under the 2018 DPWH budget.
“The (present) PAO (office) is highly congested with 300 employees, along with voluminous documents. We are the biggest law firm of the government,” Rueda-Acosta emphasized.
She expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Budget and Management and the House of Representatives for their continued support to give more funds for the construction project.
Rueda-Acosta said that PAO deserves its own building with the high influx of millions of its indigent clients seeking legal aid and court representation.
The PAO is presently housed at the fourth and fifth floors of the Department of Justice Building on NIA Road corner East Avenue, Quezon City.
