House vows not to touch allowances of justices

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives will not touch the allowances of justices, judges and other judiciary personnel under the reformed Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) that it envisions.

“They will not suffer a reduction in allowances, as long as the JDF and other funding sources could sustain the amounts that they are presently getting,” Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., justice committee chairman, has told The STAR.

Under the reforms on the use of the JDF that his committee is planning to introduce, he said not a single centavo of the fund would be diverted to another branch of the government.

“All of it will go to the judiciary. It will continue to be used to fund their allowances,” he said.

As for the basic salaries of judiciary personnel, Tupas added that those could not be disturbed, just like the salary rates of other state workers, as these are pegged under the government-wide Salary Standardization Law.

The JDF is one of the funding sources for the allowances of justices, judges and court personnel. Savings are also used for allowances.

According to a Commission on Audit report on salaries and allowances received by government officials and employees in 2003, the 15 Supreme Court justices earned gross compensation ranging from P3.5 million to P5.7 million.

Their basic pay for that year amounted to P1.1 million. The bulk of their compensation was in the form of allowances.

The lowest paid among them was Roberto Abad, who retired recently. The highest paid was Presbitero Velasco Jr. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno received P4.211 million.

Aside from allowances from the SC proper, justices get additional allowances ranging from P822,000 to P846,000 a year from the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PETC), which is also the SC itself.

Six of them draw more allowances amounting to P1.1 million to P1.6 million from the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), where they sit as members.

Justices of the Sandiganbayan earned between P2.2 million and P2.7 million in 2013, while justices of the Court of Appeals received P1.8 million to P2.5 million.

The SC court administrator pocketed P2.8 million, while his deputy received P2.3 million. The tribunal’s clerk of court was paid P2.7 million, while its spokesman took home P2 million.

The annual basic salary of justices of the Sandiganbayan and the appellate court, SC court administrator, his deputy and the court’s spokesman is about P1 million.

In contrast, most Cabinet members earned less than P2 million in 2013. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., who is “first among equals” in the Cabinet, received P1.8 million.

Under the JDF reforms the Tupas committee is planning to introduce, the judiciary fund would no longer be under the absolute discretion of the chief justice.

Collections would be turned over to the treasury, instead of being kept by the Supreme Court in its own bank account. The SC would have to request the Department of Budget and Management to release the money.

One of the two bills the committee is considering would empower Congress to appropriate the funds for allowances, construction of new facilities and repair and maintenance of existing assets.

Supreme Court officers have claimed that such reforms would impair the constitutionally guaranteed independence and fiscal autonomy of the high tribunal.