By Wilnard Bacelonia, June 10, 2025; Philippine News Agency
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1251869
MANILA – The Senate has approved a bill seeking to strengthen and professionalize the Legal Staff of the Department of Justice (DOJ) by renaming it the Office of the Chief State Counsel (OCSC) and expanding its powers, structure and benefits.
Filed jointly by the Committees on Justice and Human Rights; Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; and Finance, the measure substitutes Senate Bills 2623 and 2732 authored by Senators Francis Tolentino and Aquilino Pimentel III.
It seeks to institutionalize the OCSC as a key legal advisory and international cooperation arm of the DOJ.
Under the proposed Office of the Chief State Counsel Act, the OCSC will be placed under the supervision of the Secretary of Justice and tasked with rendering legal opinions to government officials, reviewing immigration and deportation matters, and leading treaty negotiations on extradition and mutual legal assistance, among others.
The measure also grants the OCSC adjudicatory powers over legal disputes among government offices, the authority to review tax ordinances, and responsibility for key applications such as refugee status recognition and land title validation.
It will be reorganized into seven divisions, each led by a deputy chief state counsel, and will include at least 10 state counsels per division.
The bill upgrades their salary grades, aligns retirement and survivorship benefits with those of judges and justices, and sets new qualification standards based on years of law practice.
The measure also bars retired state counsels receiving pensions from appearing as counsel in cases involving the government or accepting fees from adversarial administrative proceedings.
To fund its implementation, the bill charges the initial budget to the DOJ’s current appropriations, with subsequent funding to be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
Once enacted, the law will take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or a national newspaper.
The Senate also approved House Bill 5598 which declares Maasin City and the towns of Malitbog and Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte as tourism zones.