CEBU, Philippines - Regional Trial Court (RTC) clerks of court have requested the Cebu City government to reconsider its decision lowering their allowance to just P4,000 instead of P15,000.
“We would like to seek reconsideration anent the P4, 000 allowance from the P15,000 that was allotted to the clerks of court for the RTC,†read their letter addressed to the City Council.
Restoring the amount, they said, would give a “distinction between clerks of court in the RTC who are lawyers and clerks of courts of the MTCC, and from the Social workers, who are non-lawyers.â€
Sought for comment, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said blamed the City Council for reducing the city’s annual budget. He said, though, that he would look into the request.
Under the city’s peace and order program, P120 million was proposed for the allowances and incentives for the judiciary and the police.
However, the City Council last December 18 only approved an annual budget of P5.8 billion, which is just around half of the proposed P10.5 billion.
This also reduced the budget for the different programs, including the allowances for the judiciary.
With the reduction of the 2013 Cebu City Government budget, only P11.66 million was set aside as aid to the judiciary. (FREEMAN)