FACT CHECK: TikTok Users’ Criticisms About Catriona Gray’s Endorsement Of Leni Robredo Need Context

Claim: Some social media users were quick to point out a “mistake” in Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray’s statement that presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo served in the judiciary.

Those criticizing Gray said the Public Attorneys Office, being an attached agency of the Department of Justice, is under the executive department, not the judicial branch.

In a video uploaded on YouTube on April 18, Gray endorsed Robredo for president and cited among others, her experience in the judiciary, legislative and executive branches of government.

Robredo served as PAO volunteer lawyer from 1997 to 1999, as representative of the third district of Camarines Sur from 2013 to 2016 and as vice president from 2016 to 2022.

“Who told Catriona Gray that Leni’s legal work experience is judicial in nature? That’s flat-out wrong, and to disseminate such statement smacks of disinformation. She worked for PAO, an attached agency of the DOJ, not the Supreme Court. As such, it is executive in nature,” TikTok user Raffy Navales said.

He added: “sorry Miss Catriona Gray, your (sic) a victim of misinformation! research ka po pag may time. i think mabilis naman internet mo,” he added.

“Alam mo sa video na ‘yan, sobrang napahiya dyan si Catriona. No hate to Catriona, OK?…The point is, sinabi pa niya na thorough research, kung na-thorough research mo ‘yan, dapat alam niya na ang PAO is hindi under ng judiciary…under po siya ng executive department …Hindi naman po siya bina-bash. It’s more like pinagtatawanan siya. Tapos sinabi pa niyang extensive research. How extensive is extensive, ‘di ba?” another TikTok user “iamshanwein” also said.

Rating: Needs context

Facts: Gray’s endorsement of Robredo’s presidential candidacy roused a discussion online as she cited her judiciary experience as a former public attorney.

“My choice for President is Leni Robredo. She’s the only candidate with experience in all three branches of our government – judiciary as a volunteer lawyer, legislative as a congresswoman, and executive as a vice president,” Gray declared.

Two lawyers took the cudgels for Gray and defended her description of Robredo’s judiciary experience.

Emil Marañon III posted on Twitter on April 19 that Gray did not commit a mistake in calling Robredo’s stint as a public defender as a judiciary experience.

Marañon said lawyers are considered “officers of the court” and thus are part of the judicial system in administering justice.

“She is correct. By creed, lawyers are first and foremost ‘officers of the court’ tasked to participate to the best of their ability in the functioning of the judicial system to forge justice, pursue the legitimate interests of all parties and the general good of society,” Marañon tweeted.

“This is why our license to practice as lawyers come from the Judiciary, not from the PRC (Professional Regulation Commission) which is under the Executive Department as in most professions,” he pointed out.

Former Presidential Commission on Good Government commissioner Ruben Carranza, also a lawyer, responded to a tweet with a Supreme Court notice that described lawyers as “officers of the court.

“Maybe fact-check before asking for a fact-check? The Philippine Supreme Court considers lawyers ‘officers of the court’ thus part of the judicial branch,” Carranza posted on Twitter on April 19.

According to the Administrative Code of 1987, PAO is “an independent and autonomous office, but attached to the Department of Justice” and is “the principal law office of the Government in extending free legal assistance to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative and other quasi-judicial cases.”

“The PAO shall independently discharge its mandate to render, free of charge, legal representation, assistance, and counselling to indigent persons in criminal, civil, labor, administrative and other quasi-judicial cases. In the exigency of the service, the PAO may be called upon by proper government authorities to render such service to other persons, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations,” the administrative code read.

A PAO lawyer who requested anonymity said they may be employed by the executive branch and not the judiciary, but they perform judiciary duties in representing indigent clients in courts.

“We provide judicial services, but we don’t perform judicial functions,” the lawyer told The Philippine STAR / One News PH.

He differentiated between judicial services, which they render as lawyers, and judicial functions, which are rendered by justices, judges, and court personnel.

The PAO source cited a 2005 Supreme Court decision Bantolo versus Castillon Jr., which reads: “A lawyer is first and foremost an officer of the court. Thus, while he owes his entire devotion to the interest and causes of his client he must ensure that he acts within the bounds of reason and common sense, always aware that he is an instrument of truth and justice. More importantly, as an officer of the court and its indispensable partner in the sacred task of administering justice, graver responsibility is imposed upon a lawyer than any other to uphold the integrity of the courts, and to show respect to its processes. Thus, any act on his part which tends visibly to obstruct, pervert or impede and degrade the administration of justice constitutes professional misconduct calling for the exercise of disciplinary action against him.”

PAO’s services for indigents in criminal cases and other proceedings are listed in the PAO website.

Gray’s statement could be more accurate if she described Robredo’s public attorney stint as a “court trial experience” to describe her judiciary role, a source from the National Prosecution Service also told The STAR / One News PH.

“Gray used the generic term of judiciary. Under technical terms, to have a judiciary experience is to be a judge or justice,” the source said.

For the source, it is “acceptable” for Gray to laymanize Robredo’s public defendant stint as a judiciary experience.

“For a layman, I think it is acceptable to say Robredo has experience in the judiciary as a public attorney and a public defender,” the source explained.

Why it matters:

Social media users pounced on this detail in Gray’s endorsement as they denounced it as “fake news” and expressed support for her rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

When she ran for the vice president in 2016, Robredo shared stories about her experience as a public lawyer before she joined politics in the aftermath of her husband’s death, former interior secretary and Naga City mayor, Jesse.

“After a few stumbles, naging abogado din. But when I became a lawyer, it became very apparent to me that I wanted public service lawyering. And the only public service lawyering I knew of at the time was PAO. ‘Yung PAO, we defend clients who do not have money to pay for their own lawyers,” Robredo said in a speech at Alabang Country Club in March 2016 that was uploaded on YouTube.

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