THREE home-grown lawyers are added to the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) last week.Provincial Legal Officer Mark Anthony Padayhag introduced last Monday, during the flag ceremony, lawyers Gia Luy Ariosa, Stahrl Kristine Guadalquiver Montealto and Benison Mahawan.
All in their late 20’s, Padayhag said he expects the new legal officers will help lighten his workload at the PLO.
The PLO is undermanned; with only eight persons manning the said office, two of which are lawyers, Padayhag then said in 2008.
Aside from himself and fellow lawyer Carlos Madarang III, two legal researchers and four office staffs supplement the understaffed office.
The two legal researchers are contractual employees.
The PLO used to have five lawyers. But two of them—Joel Vercide and Mary Ann Tugbang—joined the Provincial Prosecutors Office while Domingo Redelosa IV went into private practice.
PLO’s function is to provide legal opinions to both the executive and the legislative departments of the Provincial Government, as well as assist the legal needs of indigenous people in the province.
The office is tasked to review municipal ordinances, contracts entered into by the Provincial Government with different line agencies and other organizations.
Moreover, PLO lawyers serve in litigation proceedings of the Provincial Government in any legal battle in court.
As to the new lawyers, Ariosa is a law graduate of Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City. She is also a Management major in Silliman University, Dumaguete City.
Gia is Vice Gov. Roseller Ariosa’s niece, the youngest among the five siblings and is the third lawyer in the family.
Montealto, on the other hand, is a law graduate of the University of the East. She formerly completed her Arts in Legal Management at Far Eastern University, Nicanor Reyes Educational Foundation, also in Manila.
Stahrl Kristine is the daughter of Provincial Budget Officer Rogelio Montealto.
Benison Mahawan, who hails from Molave, is an undergraduate in Business Computer Administration but he finished his law at San Carlos University in Cebu City.