Senators mixed on Aquino-Corona meeting about budget

President Benigno Aquino III’s planned meeting with Chief Justice Renato Corona to discuss the judiciary's proposed budget for next year doesn’t sit well with at least two senators, although some support the move. The two senators — Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Joker Arroyo — said the meeting would be “improper" and “unprecedented." “The President is the one that proposes the budget. We are the ones approving, scrutinizing," Enrile said on Wednesday in explaining why the meeting would be improper. Arroyo, in a separate interview, said the “President and the chief justice cannot be talking about the budget." “The advisers of the President should not have advised him on that because that’s unprecedented," he added. Arroyo further said that the idea of Aquino meeting with Corona to talk about the judiciary’s budget is “not entirely wise." On the other hand, Senate Minority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Francis Escudero supported the move of Aquino, saying it is within his prerogative to arrange such meeting. “If the chief justice thinks they can push for fiscal autonomy and better budget by meeting with him, wala naman masama dito (there is nothing wrong with that)," said Cayetano. In a statement, Escudero even said Malacaňang should “immediately meet" with Corona to avert a looming constitutional crisis over the judiciary’s threat to have a revolt due to the decreased budget. “While I do not agree with our judges on their threat of a mass leave from courts to stress their point, it is wise that these co-equal branches sit down now and thresh out the issue," he said. The reported grumblings within the judiciary was due to the P14.1-billion budget the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allotted for it for next year. Although the figure is five percent higher than this year’s P13.33-billion budget, it is way lower than the P27 billion the judiciary is asking for. - Kimberly Jane Tan/GMANews.TV