City rejects cash aid for clerks of court

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council’s committee on budget and finance has rejected the request to give P8,000 allowance per month to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) clerks of court.

Committee chairperson and the council’s majority floor leader, Councilor Margarita Osmeña, in her committee report, said they have no objection on the giving of incentives to the judiciary department.

She, however, said there are other things that need to be prioritized by the city government.

“While this committee (budget and finance) interposes no objection to the request of the clerks of court of the RTC, the city government should consider first its priorities and financial capabilities before granting the request,” she said.

During the council’s regular session yesterday, Osmeña informed her colleagues that the RTC clerks of court also receive assistance of P5,000 from the provincial government.

Osmeña stressed that if the executive department would grant the request, other offices of the judiciary might as well be given for the purpose of “impartiality.”

“They (executive department) may submit to the Council a supplemental budget to aid the request of the judiciary and present Certificate of Availability of Funds (CAF),” she pointed out.

Mayor Michael Rama earlier said the city is currently prioritizing the construction of a new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

The RTC clerks, in a letter, asked the council to restore their P8,000 original cash incentives instead of lowering it to P4,000.

The request stemmed from the supposed P15,000 cash incentives proposed by the executive last year that was reduced to P4,000 due to the slashed annual budget of the city for this year.

The amount of P11,664,000 of the approved budget was set aside as aid to the judiciary that includes allowances for Court of Appeals, RTC and MTC judges and their clerks of courts, PHILJA coordinator and RTC social workers.

The P3.5 million was appropriated for City Prosecutor’s Office, whose prosecutors will get P12,000 and assistant prosecutors will receive P10,000 each every month.

Regional State Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, will get P744,000 fund allocation that would give P12,000 to regional prosecutor and P10,000 to each assistant regional prosecutor. — (FREEMAN)