Budget retaliation?

It does not look good. It seems Malacannang is retaliating against the Supreme Court by slashing as much as P12 billion from the judiciary’s proposed 2015 expenditures program the Budget department submitted to the House of Representatives.

I remember former Sen. Rene Saguisag writing in one of my e-groups about the need to bring up the salaries and benefits of judges, justices and the judiciary in general above the level of corruption. I agree. Unless we do so, it is pointless to complain about corruption in the best justice system in the world that money can buy.

The same thought was expressed in a recent public forum by SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, who said members of the judiciary must have the financial means “to maintain integrity” and make them less susceptible to corruption.

We expect so much from judges and justices… backbreaking work clearing their clogged dockets and even risking their lives… for what is today the salary of a moderately experienced call center agent.

Leonen cited some examples as reported by Rappler. “The monthly salary of a newly-appointed Metropolitan Trial Court judge only amounts to P27,000, while that of a Regional Trial Court judge is slightly higher at P29,000, Leonen pointed out.

“By the time the judge would have retired, factoring the tiered pay increases, the monthly salary of an MTC judge would have amounted to only P67,000, while that of an RTC judge slightly higher at P78,000.”

A truly independent judiciary should not have to beg for its rightful share in the national budget. Aside from the need to upgrade salaries, there is a need for better physical facilities. Court salas are often dingy and crowded. Court documents are filed in corridors. One can hardly feel the majesty of the law under such circumstances.

In a talk on judicial reform before law students at the Ateneo School of Law last June 20, Rappler reports: “Justice Marvic Mario Victor Leonen observed that the budget for the judiciary had barely breached the one percent mark under the Aquino administration…  

“While the judiciary’s budget from 2011 to 2014 rose in absolute terms, it has not actually increased in percentage terms in the context of the entire General Appropriations Act (GAA). In fact, it even decreased in 2014 in percentage terms, constituting only 0.82 percent of the P2.265-trillion national budget for the year.

“For 2011, in the first national budget passed under Aquino, the entire judiciary – which includes the SC, the lower courts, the Sandiganbayan, Court of Appeals and the Court of Tax Appeals – had a total budget of P13.621 billion.

“In 2012, this jumped to P15.075 billion, and in 2013, the judiciary’s budget stood at P17 billion. For 2014, the judiciary got a budget of P18.56 billion…

“Leonen said that in the 2011 GAA, the judiciary’s share in the national budget pie was only 0.84  percent. The percentage increased slightly to 1.01 percent in 2012. In 2013, the percentage share dipped to 0.86 percent and further slid to 0.82 percent in 2014.

“Lamentably, Leonen said, on a yearly basis, the pork barrel of lawmakers had a bigger allocation – about P24 billion.”

As we reported last Monday, Chief Justice Sereno outlined many judicial reform programs last week, including an ambitious program to bring our judiciary into the digital age. Unfortunately, the Palace does not see the benefits… or simply just wants to retaliate… show who is boss.

Shamefully too, a foreign government agency, the USAID, had been funding judicial reform programs here for a number of years now.

Late last week, the Supreme Court asked the House appropriations committee to retain and approve its proposed P32-billion budget instead of the P20.3 billion the DBM sought on its behalf.

Sen. Ralph Recto agrees. He said Congress should heed CJ Sereno’s appeal for a higher judiciary budget. For example, Sen Recto noted that the judiciary requested P152 million for new equipment, but Malacañang instead recommended zero in the budget proposal sent to Congress.

Sen. Recto also observed that P500 million was requested for the construction of the Cebu City Halls of Justice Complex which the Budget department rejected as well.

Of great significance to victims of injustice is the rejection by Malacañang’s budget office of the SC’s request for funds to hire 2,239 court legal researchers and 3,089 personnel for 172 new Child and Family Courts.

If the President’s budget boys think they are exacting revenge on the SC with such antics, they are wrong. They are penalizing the people, the President’s bosses who will have to wait longer to obtain justice, if at all.

CJ Sereno emphasized the enormity of the reform agenda she is implementing in our judicial system in a brief talk at last Sunday’s 30th Anniversary services of the Christ Commission Fellowship in Pasig.

I like the feeling that the CJ gives that she has her heart and priorities in the right place. But she really needs our prayers and support if any reform program is to produce more than a dent in the entrenched system of compromised justice we have had for generations.

Jerry

We were on an emotional roller coaster ride last Sunday with the news that Jerry Barican had passed away. It seems the news of his death had been somewhat exaggerated.

I woke up to a Facebook posting of Trixie Cruz-Angeles that Jerry passed away at six that morning. I don’t personally know Ms. Angeles but it was also her posting that alerted us to Jerry’s first heart attack some months ago. I assumed she was a close friend of Jerry from his law school days. Rappler also announced Jerry’s passing.

Then I got word that according to Gary Olivar, who was at Makati Med, Jerry was stable as of 11:30 a.m. Gary supposedly attributed it to Jerry’s Germanic fighting spirit.

Ms. Angeles had a follow-up post: “This morning at 6 a.m., the doctors announced that Jerry ‘is gone.’ His driver, Diony, who is at Makati Med with him, then made the announcement, passed on to his friends and family. However he remains on life support and is not officially pronounced. All his medications have been withdrawn as with all extraordinary measures. Still need your prayers.”

Then, one of our UP Prep classmates, Ben Santillan posted: “Visited Jerry Barican at the Makati Med ICU. He’s comatose and is kept alive by medications and a respirator. Once his medicines are used up, there will be no more forthcoming. The doctors plan to take him off the respirator in three days, unless his family decides to do it sooner.”

That’s the Jerry fighting spirit, for sure. I have known Jerry since we were in the same UP Prep freshman class way back when. We were together for four years of high school in UP’s Padre Faura campus.

Jerry was the star in our UP Prep 66 class. He was a bundle of talent in one neat package. He won the declamation contests, bagged best actor for the two years we staged Broadway musicals, edited the school publication and graduated first honorable mention too.

Of course, in college Jerry was the student leader who was at the thick of it during the First Quarter Storm. Jerry, while still an undergrad, defeated several College of Law seniors for the chairmanship of the UP Student Council. He was the first Student Regent.

I lost track of him after the ‘70s as I started to work and he pursued a law degree. He taught at the UP College of Law, went to Harvard for a Masters. If Martial Law didn’t happen, I have no doubts he would have been a shoo-in as a senator or even the president.

He was among the first arrested when martial law was declared. But martial law did more lethal damage to Jerry in a different sort of way.

His career shift forced by martial law made him rather successful in a material kind of way. There was a time when, I am told, he owned a nice house with a great view of the Golden Gate bridge. That was his immense talent working for him.

Then democracy returned in 1986 and Jerry tried a Senate run under the ticket of Danding Cojuangco. It didn’t work. Not too many remembered him after 14 years and those who did couldn’t reconcile the fiery student leader running with Danding.

He became Erap’s spokesman and it was fine for a while but his boss got into serious trouble. Somehow, so did Jerry.

Unfortunately, he must have made a number of bad decisions that troubled him almost up to recent months. All along, we had no doubts he would surmount all those as only a man with his immense talents could.

Is his time really up? We don’t know, but we still hope he will pull through this one again, as always.

 Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco