Lawyer questions SET budget

MANILA, Philippines - Without any pending electoral protest, what’s the need for a budget of nearly P125 million for the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET)?

This question was raised yesterday by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, insisting that the proposed SET budget for 2014 has no legal basis.

“Clearly, with the apparent absence of any election protest involving any senator since September 2011 to the present, there is no legal basis to appropriate such huge appropriation for adjudication of election protest and similar allocations for the SET,” Macalintal said.

He stressed that the House Appropriations Committee should look into the propriety of allocating P124.9 million for the SET, which is composed of three senior justices of the Supreme Court and six senators nominated by the Senate.

Macalintal sent House Appro-priations Committee member Carlos Padilla a letter questioning the budgetary allocations for the SET.

The lawyer noted that the election protest of Sen. Koko Pimentel against former Sen. Miguel Zubiri was settled in August 2011. “Hence, no election protest was likewise attended to by the SET since September 2011 to the present or for the past two years.”

He also said that despite the absence of election protest, the proposed 2014 budget provides that the biggest portion of the appropriations allotted for the SET must be for the adjudication of election contests involving the members of the Senate.

Macalintal brought this matter to the attention of Senate President Franklin Drilon and all the senators in his letter dated Aug. 1 and in a similar letter to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Aug. 2. He has not received any response.