Community Based Paralegalism in the Philippines : From Social Movements to Democratization

Community-based paralegalism has been
active in the Philippines for the past 30 years, and yet its
contribution to access to justice and the advancement of the
rights and entitlements of the poor has been largely an
undocumented. This paper attempts to provide a framework
study on the history, nature, and scope of paralegal work in
the Philippines, based on the experience of 12 organizations
that are active in the training and development of
community-oriented paralegals. The study first provides a
working definition of a community-based paralegal, and then
examines the work of paralegals, their systems of
accountability or lack thereof, and issues regarding
recognition by the state and civil society actors. It also
explores facilitating and hindering factors that aid or
impinge upon the paralegals' effectiveness. A major
contributor to the work of paralegals was the
democratization process after the overthrow of the
dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and the continuing
evolution of legal rights spurred by the relatively
progressive constitution ratified in 1987. Three dimensions
of paralegal's work are identified and explored,
namely, building rights awareness, settling private
disputes, and increasing state and corporate accountability.
The study ends with conclusions and recommendations with
regard to sustainability, monitoring and evaluation,
funding, and the prospects for paralegal work over the long term.