Judges to be given P107 million additional pay

MANILA, Philippines -  President Aquino told judges yesterday they are being given P107.9 million to augment their monthly pay.

“We bent over backwards to give you additional pay,” he said.

Aquino also called on the Supreme Court (SC) to open its books on the Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) to allow the government to determine the amount of funds and help judges and court personnel with their salaries.

He wanted to know the real status of the fund, and if this was enough to give judges their allowance.

Aquino proposed that the SC remit the SAJ funds to the national treasury to figure out the real status of the funds, or if there is a need to source additional funds to solve the gap in the salary deficiency of judges.

“Even if the request is not granted, we’re still hoping that they can give a ready solution for the clear, rightful and proper use of the fund,” he said in Filipino.

Aquino signed a memorandum of agreement with four associations of judges nationwide to augment the gap in their pay against salary levels under the Salary Standardization Law III.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the executive is not legally obliged to augment the monthly pay of judges.

“However, we have seen how the salaries of our justices and judges have not caught up with salary increases under the SSL3,” he said.

“In the spirit of equity, the Aquino government has agreed to provide funding to close the gap in the salaries of judges,” he added.

Abad said the counterparts of justices and judges in the executive and legislative departments have already enjoyed bigger salaries under the same law.

“We are here to sign an MOA that, we believe, will begin to address the concerns of our judges relative to the pay they receive for the noble work that they do,” he said.

“But more than that, we are here to stand for fairness and equity.”

Under the MOA, the Department of Budget and Management shall provide the basic pay of judges as well as the “difference” between their salary rate – or basic pay plus Special Allowance for the Judiciary – and what is prescribed under the SSL III.

Abad said the amount of P107.9 million is “on top” of the P165 million that the DBM has been providing the judiciary every year since 2007, “to augment the deficiency in the collection of legal fees which is being used for the payment of SAJ.”

Aquino said the government is sensitive to the plight of judges.

“I think more than anything we have shown that we are not deaf to their complaints, and that we’re correcting the discrepancy.

“And we have shown that even if there are differences between the branches of government, we can be united in the pursuit of reform.”

The four judges associations are the Philippine Judges Association, Philippine Trial Judges League Inc., Metropolitan City Judges Association of the Philippines and the Retired Judges Association.