Lawyers, paralegals complain: Ruiz yet to fully pay poll workers

CEBU, Philippines - Lawyers and paralegal assistants who worked for Cebu sixth district Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz during the May 10, 2010 elections said they have yet to be paid for their services.

Ruiz ran for mayor of Mandaue City but lost to incumbent Mayor Jonas Cortes. 

One of the workers, who requested anonymity, said that they only received P750 traveling expenses during the election day.

“Naa gihatag P750 I think pang-traveling expenses. Wala na, mao ra gyud. We are all expecting na naa kay ang tanan na nag-paralegal sa uban pinakagamay kay P8,000. Naghuna-huna na gani mi kung unsa amoang paliton after receiving our fees unya P750 ra diay ang gihatag namo,” the source said.

The source also said that it was Atty. Gonzalo “Sally” Malig-on, the chief of staff of Ruiz, who recruited them.

“Si Atty. Sally man ang nag-recruit namo mismo. Ingon siya na naay ihatag pero wala mi nag- expect nga ingon ani ka gamay. Insulting,” the source added.

Malig-on, the source said, is their Election Law professor at the University of San Jose-Recoletos.

Based on records obtained by The FREEMAN, 15 paralegals were recruited to work for Ruiz during the elections.

They are all law students from USJ-R and most of them are in their first year.

Just for comparison, a campaign manager for a candidate in Lapu-Lapu City said they usually pay P10,000 to each of their paralegals.

Malig-on said that their paralegal assistants will no longer receive anything other than the P750 that was already given to them during election day.

“Wala na. Most were my students who wanted to volunteer,” Malig-on said when asked by The FREEMAN.

Malig-on said that it is quite unfortunate that he and his students did not agree on the rates. But he said they usually gave P500 to P1,000 to each of their paralegals.

Malig-on has been the chief of staff of Soon-Ruiz for more than 15 years now.

“Unfortunately, wala mi nagkasabot daan, unlike sa lawyers nga giklaro daan ang rates. Between P500 to P1,000, that’s really our rate for paralegal even before. Sige lang, lesson learned for everyone including me. Duna pa unta sila chance to find another engagement og nahibaw-an pa. I will talk to my students pod,” Malig-on said.

As for the lawyer’s professional fees, Malig-on said they still have to pay the remaining 50 percent of their fees.

“Ang sa lawyers duna kulang half sa professional fee. Pero nag-raise na og money si Inday (Soon-Ruiz) for that. We assured them of payment very soon,” Malig-on said.

Lawyer Vicente Fernandez II, senior consultant and one of the 17 lawyers of Ruiz said that after election day, Malig-on could no longer be contacted through his cellular phone.

It was only three days after the election when they were able to contact Malig-on and they were paid half of their fees.

Fernandez explained that he was the only one who was paid in full as of May 18, saying that the remaining fees for the rest of the lawyers remained unreleased.

Under normal practice, a lawyer serving during the election is either paid in advance or during election day.

The FREEMAN tried to contact some of the other lawyers but they refused to be interviewed and opted to remain silent.

Fernandez added that his client, Umapad barangay captain Zaldy Lumapas, was forced to shell out an additional amount to pay for their watchers in the barangay after the camp of Ruiz only gave P200 to each watcher although what was agreed was P400 per watcher.

Lumapas ran for city councilor under the ticket of Ruiz but lost.   — /BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)