Aquino admin to augment salary of judiciary workers

The Aquino administration is set to “fix the discrepancy" between the salaries of employees in the executive and judiciary. President Benigno Aquino III will witness on Wednesday the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Philippine Judges Association that will allow the executive branch to augment the salaries of workers in the judiciary. “Mas lumalamang ang sweldo ng ibang empleyado sa bureaucracy sa executive doon sa judiciary so itong tulong na ibibigay ng DBM sa kanila ay para mapantay ang mga sweldo nila," said Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, at a press briefing Tuesday. (The salaries of those in the executive are higher than those in the judiciary so this move by the DBM aims to equalize their salaries.) The details of the agreement will be announced by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad during the signing of the MOA. Carandang said the MOA was done in consultation with the judges’ association. “Nagkaroon ng assembly of judges noong March 18, pinag-usapan ito (This was tackled last March 18 during an assembly of judges). This MOA was approved by 90 percent of the judges," he said. He said the discrepancy was brought by the approval of the Salary Standardization Law for government employees and a separate law increasing compensation for judges. “Nagkaroon ng discrepancy dahil doon sa dalawang batas. At this point nangunguna yung ibang bureaucracy sa mga judges and officials in the judiciary. So there is a need to help augment their salaries. Although we are not obliged legally to do this, ginawa natin ito para makatulong sa judiciary," Carandang said. (The discrepancy was caused by two different laws. At this point, employees in the other branches of government receive more than their counterparts in the judiciary. So there is a need to help augment their salaries. Although we are not obliged legally to do this, we did it to be able to help the judiciary.) Supreme Court spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez, meanwhile, declined to comment on the imminent signing of the deal between the DBM and the judges, saying the court has yet to receive a copy of the MOA. “The Court has not been furnished a copy of the MOA. Perhaps after its signing, it can be submitted to the Court so the Court can study it and determine if it affects the pending case before the Court," Marquez said in a text message. Currently pending before the Supreme Court is a case regarding President Aquino’s Executive Order No. 2, which seeks to revoke the so-called midnight appointments of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Malacañang has also appealed the high court’s decision to deem as unconstitutional President Aquino’s Executive Order No. 1, which aims to create an independent body that will investigate the alleged abuses of the Arroyo administration. - with Sophia Dedace, GMA News