Sources:

Clinical legal education is a legal teaching method based on experiential learning,

which fosters the growth of knowledge, personal skills and values as well as
promoting social justice at the same time. As a broad term, it encompasses
varieties of formal, non-formal and informal educational programs and projects,
which use practical-oriented, student-centered, problem-based, interactive learning
methods, including, but not limited to, the practical work of students on real cases
and social issues supervised by academics and professionals. These educational
activities aim to develop professional attitudes and foster the growth of the
practical skills of students with regard to the modern understanding of the role of
the socially oriented professional in promoting the rule of law, providing access to
justice and peaceful conflict resolutions, and solving social problems.
Legal clinics originated as a method of practical teaching of law school students,
but today they encompass also free legal aid with no academic links.[2] There are
practice-based law clinics with no academic link which provide hands-on skills to
lawyers, judges and non-lawyers on practical ethical dimensions of the law at the
same time offer free public defence legal services.[3]
According to Avani Bansal, in cases where parties cannot afford a lawyer and are
provided legal services by the state, the quality of that legal representation is often
questionable. Therefore the need for clinical legal education, or establishing legal
aid clinics at law schools, where law students can provide legal advice to indigent
people.[4]
UP LAW
one of the top universities of the country, the University of the Philippines College
of Law has its Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) which provides students
with the necessary skills for their eventual practice of law. Through this program,
the students are given actual and practical understanding of the practice of law by
being “directly and personally” involved in addressing legal problems and
situations.

According to the World Justice Project and United Nations  (UN), 80% of
Filipinos who need legal assistance don’t receive it while at least 1 million small
and medium businesses don’t have access to legal services. The UN also
discovered that there is only 1 lawyer for every 2,200 Filipinos, when the optimum
ratio is 1 lawyer for every 250 Filipinos.
(https://asialawportal.com/2020/06/29/making-legal-services-simple-and-
affordable-in-the-philippines-an-interview-with-jason-arteche-owner-and-founder-
legal-tree/ )
The United States Government represented by the Department of State’s Bureau
for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs directs and oversees
foreign assistance programs aimed at justice sector reform. INL provides support
for programs spanning the spectrum of rule of law and justice sector development,
including: capacity building, legislative reform, justice professional training,
support for civil society, and access to justice, as well as a range of assistance and
capacity building projects for legal education reform in the Philippines. 
To complement existing U.S. and international donor efforts to advance the rule of
law through legal education in the Philippines, INL Manila seeks to provide
funding to implement rule of law education programs in the Philippines aimed at
designing, establishing, and implementing legal aid programs in law schools across
the Philippines that provide crucial legal services to targeted needs-based clients. 

Legal aid is a major tool for protecting human rights in the justice system. It plays
a vital role where massive human rights violations occur. Due to lack of resources,
graft, and corruption, Philippine government efforts to promote legal access to the
public are limited. Thus, victims of violence who come from low socio-economic
strata of society are left without recourse in their quest for justice.

Legal aid is largely nonexistent in the Philippine context. Better access to legal aid
could serve to support victims, improve implementation of the law, and counter
impunity. The legal profession is expected to play a dynamic role in the
administration of justice, but their resources are currently untapped in the context
of legal aid provision. Law schools, as the recruiting grounds for the legal
profession, and human rights volunteers and advocates (students and professionals)
could play a large role in providing access to legal information and support. 

The solicited program should equip law schools and their faculties with the
capability to establish legal aid clinics through training of legal aid supervisors and
law students, financial support for the initial set-up, and the issuance of a clear
regulatory framework. Specifically, identified law schools will develop and
implement a legal aid program based on the curriculum and guidelines to be issued
by the Legal Education Board (LEB) under the Supreme Court of the
Philippines. (https://researchfunding.duke.edu/strengthening-rule-law-through-
legal-aid-clinics-philippines)

Clinical Legal Education

 As stated in an article, the World Justice Project and United Nations brought to
light that 80% of Filipinos do not receive legal assistance and at least one million small
and medium businesses do not have access to legal services, and as discovered by the
United Nations, there is only one (1) lawyer for every 2,200 Filipinos, when the
optimum ratio is 1 lawyer for every 250 Filipinos.
Due to a grant from the United States Department of State, Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, an article was written dated
August 17, 2017 which averred that:

“Legal aid is largely nonexistent in the Philippine context. Better

access to legal aid could serve to support victims, improve implementation
of the law, and counter impunity. The legal profession is expected to play
a dynamic role in the administration of justice, but their resources are
currently untapped in the context of legal aid provision. Law schools, as
the recruiting grounds for the legal profession, and human rights
volunteers and advocates (students and professionals) could play a large
role in providing access to legal information and support. 

The solicited program should equip law schools and their faculties
with the capability to establish legal aid clinics through training of legal aid
supervisors and law students, financial support for the initial set-up, and
the issuance of a clear regulatory framework. Specifically, identified law
schools will develop and implement a legal aid program based on the
curriculum and guidelines to be issued by the Legal Education Board (LEB)
under the Supreme Court of the Philippines.”

The Supreme Court of the Philippines amended Rule 138-A or the “Law Student
Practice” dated June 25, 2019 due to the need to ensure access to justice of the
marginalized sectors, enhance learning opportunities of law students, to instill among
them the value of legal professional social responsibility, and to prepare them for the
practice of law. The amendment also states that there is a need to institutionalize
clinical legal education program in all law schools in order to enhance, improve, and
streamline law student practice, and regulate their limited practice of law and to
produce practice-ready lawyers, and therefore made it a prerequisite to take the bar
examinations as provided by the Revised Rule.
On October 16, 2019, Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin addressed the 127-strong
Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) during its Annual Convention on the
importance of legal aid clinics in improving access to justice, stressing that “It will not
only respond to the increasing need of the underserved sectors for legal services, but
will also afford our law students the necessary training to become practice-ready
lawyers.”
 The Clinical Legal Education Program is a legal teaching method based on
experiential learning which provides students a hands-on training on real cases and
social issues while under the supervision of a lawyer. It aims to develop professional
attitudes and foster the growth of the practical skills of students with regard to the
modern understanding of the role of the socially oriented professional in promoting the
rule of law, providing access to justice and peaceful conflict resolutions and solving
social problems.
On the other hand, the University of the Philippines College of Law has its Clinical
Legal Education Program (CLEP) which requires all students to complete 120 hours of
practicum handling cases in which they interview clients, draft pleadings and briefs and
appear in court under a Supervising Lawyer. The program has its structure and different
clinics to wit:

1. OLA – The Office of Legal Aid (OLA) is the public service unit of the
College where all students are required to undergo 60 hours of service.
OLA provides legal assistance and services to indigent members of the
community within the National Capital Judicial Region.        
2. Law Firm Practice – The Law Internship Center provides students
with practical knowledge in fee-based practice in litigation, appellate
work, corporate documentation, corporate structuring, taxation, estate
settlement, property, contract review, and other areas of the practice
of law.       
3. Environment – The Environment clinic immerses students in
environmental issues and familiarizes them with procedures relating to
filing of environmental cases and enforcement of pertinent laws and
decisions on environmental cases. Work for the Clinic includes policy
research and formulation in matters relating to environmental
protection.        
4. Civil and Political Rights – With FLAG as partner, students are
exposed to handling cases relating to civil and political rights that
address basic freedoms, governmental actions interfering with citizens’
rights, and political issues. Work includes pleading writing, assistance
in court cases and argumentation, client handling, and constitutional
law research.      
5. Government Practice – Students are given an externship under the
Republic’s only law firm — the Office of Solicitor General (OSG) — and
are exposed to various issues and matters in which the protection of
State interest is vital. It is expected that students will be made to work
on pleadings, attend hearings, and participate in classroom-style
learning experiences.      
6. Competition Law – Starting second semester of AY 2019-2020,
students are now able to gain direct and practical experience in legal
 issues and matters concerning competition law through a partnership
with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC). Work for the Clinic
includes both support in relation to the Commission’s adjudicatory
function, and as a legislative liaison, specifically reviewing of
competition laws and lobbying with Congress.

This program was implemented amidst the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019
where there are restrictions on movement and thereby limiting the exposure of
students at the College of Law to experience the hands-on training which this program
aims to impart.
Notwithstanding the said pandemic, lawyers and law schools are providing free
legal assistance online. This free legal assistance was spearheaded by the Integrated
Bar of the Philippines National Center for Legal Aid, which gives advice about matters
such as arrests related to the violation of curfew ordinances and discrimination against
health care workers and other front line workers who are being evicted from their
residences and termination of their lease, denial of entry to public places, refusal to
give assistance or access to services such as transportation, physical injuries, coercion
or other acts of violence threat or intimidation, defamation, libel or slander. Whereas
queries regarding human rights, clarifications on government policies, and incidents of
abuses by authorities are handled by the Commission on Human Rights.
The Association of Law Students of the Philippines, however, stated that it would
provide advice and counseling with the help of its members from 70 law schools around
the country, with the assistance and supervision of lawyers and professors. The
volunteer professors, students and alumni may provide legal education and counselling,
and if needed, legal representation to those affected by the enforcement of R.A. 11332
or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health
Concern Act and R.A. 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.”
On April 20, 2020, the UP College of law launched an online portal to “handle
request for legal assistance, legal advice and education and if necessary, legal
representation for issues arising from the implementation of the Enhanced Community
Quarantine (ECQ).”