P-Noy should give the judiciary its due!

Not many people seem to notice or they have already forgotten that just before he took the reins of power in Malacañang, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took a good look at the presidential jet, a Fokker F-27, and he sort of made a comment that he would not be riding this plane on his trips out of Manila, and said he would take commercial flights. When P-Noy came to Cebu for the first time since his election, The Freeman photos of the arrival ceremonies at the Mactan Airbase showed that P-Noy apparently used the Fokker F-27. I just hope that this aircraft is properly maintained for the sake of P-Noy and our nation.

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This week, Malacañang and the Supreme Court had a bitter row regarding the budget for the judiciary where under P-Noy, the judiciary will only get P14.3 billion as compared to what the SC wanted – P27.1 billion. While this row is just about money, however, P-Noy must realize that it solves one of the biggest problems of this country since the time of the Marcos Dictatorship.

I have always maintained and seriously believe that the ills of this country, especially corruption, have its roots on our lack of justice, from the time of the Marcos Dictatorship up to the present. Like what we wrote recently, the slogan we used against Marcos was “Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA).” Yet justice is still so elusive 24 years after the EDSA Revolt.

If you ask me, one of the problems that we face in this country is the so-called Salary Standardization Law, which also includes the judiciary. Judges are getting paid just like a city councilor, which is pittance if you ask me. Hence, corruption within the judiciary has become widespread. I remember that the late Manong Max Soliven had a name for them – “rogues in robes.” Perhaps Congress ought to repeal the Salary Standardization Law simply because it is communistic. The good employees are paid the same salaries as the bad ones, hence there’s no reward for the conscientious and hardworking government employee.

If there is anything woefully sad in this country, it is that we do not have funds for the most important government agencies that would have improved the lot of the Filipino. If most Filipinos are poor, it is due to the reality that the Department of Education (DepEd), despite the fact that it gets the biggest pie in the nation’s budget, still cannot deliver the basics for the educational needs of our people. Hence the poor are stuck in that circle of poverty. Unless the government increases the budget for education, then we shall always be known as a “nation of maids,” which last year a Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao wrote about, causing a furor among us Filipinos.

I don’t have to remind President Aquino that the Filipino electorate voted him to the presidency based on a lot of hope that he can deliver his campaign promise in fighting corruption and rid our people from the scourge of poverty. He also made a correlation between corruption and poverty. Hence these are the two major problems that the Aquino administration must address and give utmost importance if he wants to have a Chinaman’s chance in achieving his monumental goals.

This brings us back to the issue of the Supreme Court’s request for a higher budget for 2011 which is less than half what the judiciary really wants and needs. I’ll say that now is time for the government to give the judiciary its due so we will see more cases settled faster and we shall help the judiciary solve the problems of the so-called “rogues in robes.” If you have been to our courts recently, you will see many courtrooms in shambles, a lot of them do not even have any air-conditioning.

But it is the snail’s pace justice that continues to plague us. Imagine the Ampatuan massacre is now on its ninth month and the trial is just beginning. The parricide case against Rep. Ruben Ecleo, who allegedly murdered his wife Alona (later her family was also massacred), is now on its eighth year with no end in sight. Justice delayed is undoubtedly justice denied and because of our snail’s pace justice system, it has resulted in extra-judicial killings. Yes, the guns-for-hire industry has flourished, you can hire a killer for less than P4,000, which is much cheaper than hiring a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda insist that they cannot give any more increases to the judiciary because the judiciary has kept secret the amount of its Judicial Development Fund (JDF), but isn’t this for the judiciary to know? After all, aren’t they separate and co-equal in power with the executive and legislative? Whatever their differences are, let me say it clearly that it is time for the judiciary to be given these funds so finally we can truly make the slow wheels of justice move a little bit faster under the Aquino administration.

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