Judges protest cut in judiciary budget

MANILA, Philippines - Judges nationwide wore black yesterday in protest against the plan of Congress to reduce by almost half the judiciary’s proposed budget for next year, from P27.1 billion to P14.3 billion.

Members of the Philippine Judges Association wore black armbands and shirts during flag-raising ceremonies in judicial regions throughout the country.

Judge Vivencio Baclig of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 77 and Judge Ralph Lee of Branch 83 said the majority of judges in Quezon City wore black yesterday.

Baclig said about 10 judges attending the flag-raising ceremony wore black.

Only one judge was not in black because he was unaware of the protest, Baclig added.

Quezon City judges were informed about the protest action through text messages yesterday, Baclig said.

Speaking to reporters on the phone, Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila RTC’s Branch 26 said judges have not yet received the pay raise allocated for them in 2007.

“We were supposed to receive P10,000 per month,” he said. “But up to this time, we have not been given that increase.”  

He said the amount has now reached a total of P30,000 per month for each judge.

In 2008, the government approved another P20,000 increase in the pay of judges, he added.

Pampilo said the funds from docket fees and the Judiciary Development Fund are not enough to cover the pay hike of judges.

The slash in the judiciary’s budget could prejudice 56 regional trial court and 30 metropolitan/municipal trial court judges in Manila, Pampilo said.

In a separate telephone interview, another Manila judge, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said judges from Manila and the provinces plan to march to Malacañang to seek an audience with President Aquino.

“We will bring this matter personally to the President,” the judge said.

Judges will still discuss when the protest action would be held, the judge said.

The judge said it would be their next course of action if talks among the Supreme Court, Malacañang and Congress fail.

“If nothing happens, we will march and go directly to the President,” the judge said in Filipino.

The judge said they will continue to wear black armbands for two weeks, during which time court administrator Jose Midas Marquez will hold dialogues with those involved with the national budget.

At the Supreme Court, lawyer Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, acting chief of the SC’s public information office, said the SC did not sanction the protest action of the judges.

“This (protest action) is voluntary on the part of the judges,” she said.

However, Guerra said Chief Justice Renato Corona had been informed through text message about the plan of the Philippine Judges Association to hold the protest action.

Guerra refused to comment if the SC would consider imposing sanctions on judges who joined the protest. – With Reinir Padua