Court personnel to wear black vs P2-B budget cut

MANILA, Philippines - Tomorrow, court personnel nationwide will wear black to protest the proposed reduction by almost P2 billion of the budget of the judiciary for next year.

This will be the second “black protest” held by judiciary personnel this year. In January, judges protested the cut in the judiciary’s proposed budget for this year by almost half – to P14.65 billion from the proposed P27.1 billion.

This time, the judiciary is contesting the diversion of P1.98 billion in its proposed budget from 2012 to a new item in the national budget called the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund (MPBF).

Officers and members of the Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE) assured the public that court processes and proceedings would not be hampered by the protest.

Judges belonging to the Philippine Judges Association (PJA), Philippine Trial Judge League (PTJL) and Metropolitan and City Judges Association the Philippines (MCJAP) are not joining the action, but have expressed support for the protest.

PJA president and Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio Eugenio Jr. said they were informed of the plan of PACE.

“We are not joining, not yet. We are, however, in sympathy with their plight,” Eugenio told The STAR.

In March, judges were appeased after the Palace agreed to update their salaries under the Salary Standardization Law. In June, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the release of special allowances for judges and justices worth P900 million which have not been paid to judges and justices since 2007.

SC spokesman and Court Administrator Midas Marquez had said that the proposed cut in the budget of the judiciary for next year is a violation of the fiscal autonomy granted to it by the Constitution.

He cited Section 3, Article VIII of the charter, which states: “The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the Judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year, and, after approval, shall be automatically and regularly released.”

Marquez also noted that the Constitution stipulates that the budget of the judiciary for the current year shall not be lower than that of the previous year. Its budget for this year is P14.3 billion.

Marquez believes the judiciary has the support of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who earlier said the executive department should not have impounded the funds of the judiciary.

He said that for now, they are holding on to the assurance of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that the judiciary will still have access to the funds.

Budget restoration

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman proposed the restoration of the slashed P1.98 billion to the budget of the judiciary to avert a confrontation between Malacañang and the SC.                                                     

Appropriations committee chairman Joseph Emilio Abaya said he is studying Lagman’s proposal.?

Abaya also heads the five-member panel formed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to receive and consider proposed amendments to the P1.8-trillion 2012 national budget.?

“One thing positive about the (Lagman) amendment is that it is clear to him what is the single objective of President Aquino in this budget reform policy. It is transparency in the use of funds,” he said.?

Lagman proposes that the funds impounded by the executive department be returned to the judiciary, constitutional commissions, and the Senate and the House, but Congress should create special provisions in the 2012 budget law to govern the use of the funds.

He said it should be stipulated in the 2012 budget law that the funds be used exclusively for filling vacancies.

“The earmarked funds shall not be used to augment maintenance and other operating expenses, purchase of equipment and/or financing operations,” he said. 

“Any savings at the end of the fiscal year in the appropriations for unfilled positions shall be carried over in its entirety to the following year’s agency budget and cannot be realigned to support other activities or expense items,” he added.

Before the impoundment of funds, the budgets for the filling of vacant positions in government were automatically released to agencies, constitutional bodies, and the judiciary as part of appropriations for salaries.

Many agencies, however, have deliberately refused to fill vacancies and instead used the funds for other purposes such as the payment of additional allowances and incentives.

Marquez has told lawmakers that the judiciary is using the funds to give additional allowances to judges willing to do additional work by serving in vacant courts. – With Jess Diaz