SC disowns judges' 'armband protest' vs budget cut

The Supreme Court (SC) said it had nothing to do with the wearing of black armbands by lower court judges on Monday as a form of protest against the budget allotted for the judiciary. During the early part of the day, members of the Philippine Judges' Association reportedly wore black armbands to protest the P14-billion budget received by the judiciary. The amount is P13 billion lower than what the judicial branch proposed. "This is a purely voluntary and spontaneous action on the part of the judges," said Gleoresty Guerra, acting SC Public Information Office chief. Guerra added that Chief Justice Renato Corona has been informed about the judges' action. "He (Corona) just said that he was aware of this when he got a text message that such an action was being planned by the lower court judges," said Guerra. Philippine Judges Association (PJA) president Antonio Eugenio, a Manila regional trial court judge, said the all members of the organization participated in the protest. PJA has a membership of 700 trial court judges. "We decided to push through, 700 plus of us, nationwide," Antonio said in a phone interview with GMANews.TV. Guerra, however, quoted acting court administrator Nimfa Vilches as saying that not all trial court judges wore black armbands. "Some were wearing black attire," Guerra said in a text message to GMANews.TV. Mass leave, judicial revolt In September, the PJA had threatened to mount a mass leave to protest imminent budget cuts in the judiciary. However, Supreme Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez allayed fears of a mass leave. The judiciary is the third co-equal branch in the Philippine government. However, it has received less than 1 percent of the country's budget in recent years. "In 2007, the judiciary got only 0.76 percent of the national budget; in 2008, 0.88 percent; in 2009, 0.94 percent; and in 2010, 0.87 percent. For 2011, the judiciary will stand to receive a measly 0.78 percent of the national budget," said Marquez. The judiciary has been clamoring for a bigger budget to repair dilapidated courtrooms, disburse unpaid allowances amounting to P900 million, and buy other resources needed by the judges. Marquez supervises all the courts in the country, including 2,200 judges and justices, and about 25,500 court personnel. He said there are about 600,000 pending cases nationwide, 6,000 of which are sitting at the SC. – VVP/HS, GMANews.TV