Court personnel told not to stage mass walkout

Anticipating the planned mass walkout of court employees next week, the Supreme Court has issued a memorandum "reminding" them against going on unauthorized leaves and staging mass actions.

The Office of the Court Administrator issued last Thursday Circular No. 152-2003 amid reports that court employees, including Supreme Court personnel, will push through with their mass walkout on Monday to press their demand for higher pay.

Disgruntled court employees, however, complained that the "reminder" was tantamount to a warning against staging the mass walkout.

A week ago, court employees in Bacolod City walked out of their offices to demand higher pay.

The planned walkout on Monday was in contrast to the call made by leaders of court employees federation urging its 25,000 members to be sober and not allow themselves to be used for political and other purposes in the wake of the impeachment complaint filed by lawmakers against Chief Justice Hilario Davide.

Alliance of Court Employees Associations of the Philippines (ACEAP) Jojo Guerrero said the same thing happened last year when they demanded that Congress include court employees in a bill increasing the salaries of judges and justices.

ACEAP vice president Mar Aguilar also had said plans for a mass leave cannot be realized since it will paralyze the judiciary.

But now, some court employees are singing a different tune. Most of them simply wanted to press their demand for higher pay, notwithstanding the political implications of the impeachment of Davide.

Supreme Court officials, for their part, made last ditch efforts to placate the restless employees by explaining how the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) was disbursed.

A primer was also distributed which clearly discussed how the Court allocates the fund. The primer also answered point by point the allegations of misappropriation against Davide.

The supposed fund mess was the basis of the impeachment complaint against Davide. In the primer, it was explained that the 80 percent allocation for the employees’ cost of living allowance was never used for any other projects, only the 20 percent as prescribed by law. — Aurea Calica