SEC. 11.

Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal assistance shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.
Right to free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies.

The guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws assure all persons like access to the courts as well as quasi-judicial bodies of the country for the protection of their persons and property, the prevention and redress of wrongs, and the enforcement of contracts. But such guarantees are pointless if persons are prevented from going to courts on account of their poverty. If the accused cannot afford to hire a lawyer to defend his case, the government shall provide one for him. He shall be assisted and represented by a public prosecutor and a counsel from the Public Attorneys Office, respectively. Within this category may be mentioned the low-paid employees, domestic servants and laborers who, to collect their small salaries and wages, might have to go to court and yet are without means to pay filing or sheriffs fees and attorney's fees. 4 To give reality to these constitutional rights, our Constitution has expressly included the provisions
Right to adequate legal assistance . the State has also

the constitutional duty to provide free and adequate legal assistance to citizens when by reason of indigence or lack of financial means, they are unable to engage the services of a lawyer to defend them or to enforce their rights in civil, criminal, or administrative cases. A person who, due to poverty, cannot pay docket fee in civil case may apply in court to file his case as a pauper litigant.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) is giving free legal assistance to underprivileged litigants.
The Public Attorneys Office exists to provide the indigent litigants, the oppressed, marginalized and underprivileged members of the society free access to courts, judicial and quasi-judicial agencies, by rendering legal services, counselling and assistance in consonance with the Constitutional mandate that free access to courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty in order to ensure the rule of law, truth and social justice as components of the countrys sustainable development.