Ochoa, Abad to meet Supreme Court's Marquez on budget

MANILA, Philippines - The anticipated meeting between President Aquino and Chief Justice Renato Corona will not push through, as it will now be between Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad representing the executive department with Court Administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez for the judiciary.

“I already got a call for the office of the Executive Secretary arranging the meeting with me and DBM (Department of Budget and Management) Secretary Abad. No date has been set yet,” Marquez said yesterday.

Marquez said he was tapped by Corona to attend the meeting with the two Malacañang officials.

President Aquino backtracked from the planned meeting after he was advised about its repercussions, considering Malacañang has pending cases before the Supreme Court involving the first three executive orders he issued.

The High Court is presently deliberating on petitions questioning the legality of presidential directives on the creation of Truth Commission to probe corruption scandals of the previous administration, the revocation of midnight appointments issued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the voiding of Arroyo’s directive granting career executive rank to lawyers.

The Executive Department had asked for an audience with Corona amid the growing dismay of judges over the judiciary’s budget.

Marquez had claimed a group of judges even threatened to go on mass leave to protest the budget cut.

Marquez said he was able to placate the group by explaining the proposed budget cut is “still under negotiation.”

Corona, for his part, would not make any comment on the issue.

Still, the protest on the proposed cuts in the budget of the judiciary grows with a recipient of this year’s Judicial Excellence Awards expressing disappointment with the decision of the President not to meet with the Chief Justice.

Caloocan City Judge Victoria Isabel Paredes, the 2010 Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano Awardee, said the meeting would have been a great opportunity for Corona to explain to the President the need for a higher budget for the judiciary.

“Give us what is rightfully due us for that is the essence of justice,” Paredes said in her speech during the awarding ceremony held at the Manila Hotel last Friday.

Paredes said the judiciary needs a higher budget to address the problems of salary distortions, activation of specialized courts and pension of its retirees.

“Do not begrudge us our worth in government. We have done and are continually doing our share in policing graft and corruption, inefficiency and ignorance in our ranks,” she said.

During his turn to deliver an inspirational message, Corona never mentioned the judiciary’s budget but praised Paredes for her “very good speech.”

Corona also thanked members of the judiciary like Paredes and other awardees – Judges Iluminada Cabato of Baguio City and Carmelita Manahan of Manila and Baguio City Clerk of Court Gail Bacbac del Isen – for excellent performance of their duties despite lack of ample funds for the judiciary.

“They opted to serve their country by joining the judiciary where the only reward for a job well done is the satisfaction of having contributed to the betterment of society and the lives of our people,” he remarked.