SEC. 160. Creation of Office of Agrarian Counsel.&mdashTo strengthen the legal assistance to agricultural lessees and agricultural owner-cultivators referred to in this Code, the Tenancy Mediation Commission is hereby expanded and shall hereafter be known as the Office of the Agrarian Counsel. The head of the Office shall hereafter be known as Agrarian Counsel and shall have the rank, qualifications and salary of First Assistant Solicitor General. He shall be assisted by a Deputy Agrarian Counsel, who shall have the rank, qualifications and salary of Assistant Solicitor General. The Agrarian Counsel and Deputy Agrarian Counsel shall be appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of Congress and shall be under the direct supervision of the Secretary of Justice.
SEC. 161. Special Attorneys.&mdashThere is hereby created in the Office of the Agrarian Counsel eighty additional positions of Special Attorneys, who shall be appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Secretary of Justice and with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. They shall have the rank, qualifications and salary provided by law for a solicitor in the Office of the Solicitor General with the lowest rank.
SEC. 162. Appointment of Subordinate Officials.&mdashThe Agrarian Counsel shall appoint the subordinate officials and employees of the Office of Agrarian Counsel, subject to civil service rules and regulations, fix their compensation and prescribe their duties. The compensation of special attorneys transferred to the Office of Agrarian Counsel shall be fixed on salary scales corresponding to solicitors of the Office of the Solicitor General: Provided, That in the fixing of their salary seniority in rank shall be taken into account.
The Agrarian Counsel shall have the power to organize such divisions and sections as will insure maximum efficiency of the Office.
SEC. 163. Functions of the Office of Agrarian Counsel.&mdashIt shall be the responsibility of the Office of the Agrarian Counsel, upon proper notification by the party concerned or by the association or organization to which he belongs, to represent agricultural lessees, agricultural farm workers and agricultural owner-cultivators referred to in this Code who cannot engage the services of competent private counsel in cases before the Court of Agrarian Relations.
SEC. 164. Authority to Administer Oath.&mdashThe Agrarian Counsel, the Deputy Agrarian Counsel and the Special Attorneys of the Office of Agrarian Counsel are hereby authorized to administer oaths free of charge.
SEC. 165. Appropriation.&mdashThere is hereby appropriated, in addition to the appropriation of the Tenancy Mediation Commission for Fiscal Year 1964, the sum of three million pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, out of the unappropriated funds in the National Treasury, for salaries, wages, purchase of motor vehicles, supplies, equipment, and other sundry expenses. The amount appropriated herein shall be carried in the appropriations for the Office of the Agrarian Counsel in the General Appropriations Acts for succeeding fiscal years.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
