SC employees stage protest vs 'budget cut'

About 200 employees and lawyers from the Supreme Court staged a protest on Monday morning to protest against Congress' plan to transfer P2 billion of the proposed P15-billion budget for the judicary to a special fund for vacant government posts. Clad in black, members of the Supreme Court Employees' Association and the Supreme Court Assembly of Lawyer-Employees said that transferring the P2 billion to the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund (MPBF) curtails the fiscal autonomy accorded by the 1987 Constitution to the judiciary.

The MPBF is among the provisions in the proposed 2012 national budget, which is still undergoing deliberations in Congress. The P23.4-billion special fund can only be accessed once vacant offices are filled up. Of the judiciary's P15-billion budget, about P2 billion will be transferred to the MPBF. This means that roughly P13 billion will be retained for the judiciary—an amount lower than the P14 billion allotted for the judiciary in 2011. The budget for 2012 cannot go lower than P14 billion because the Constitution mandates lawmakers to allocate for the judiciary a budget not lower than the amount "appropriated for the previous year." The Department of Budget and Management has, however, assured the judiciary that the P2 billion to be moved to the MPBF will still form part of the P15-billion allocated budget for the judicial branch in 2012. Despite such assurance, SC spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said that court employees are wary of moving P2 billion to the MPBF. "Our employees are very worried. Our saving don't really go to employees' fringe benefits alone. We have judges designated to vacant courts, so maraming pinupuntahan yung pera," said Marquez at a news briefing. As court administrator, Marquez has supervision of all court employees and lower court judges. He also clarified that Monday's protest action is not led by Supreme Court itself but is only an initiative of the high court's employees. — RSJ, GMA News