Court employees: Spare judiciary budget from politicking

Resuming their series of protest actions, employees of the Supreme Court on Monday said the judiciary's budget should not be "held hostage" by politicking from other branches of government. In the regular flag-raising ceremony at the high court, Jojo Guerrero of the Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA) reminded the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that diverting P2 billion of the P15-billion proposed budget of the judiciary to a special fund for vacant government seats violates the fiscal autonomy the 1987 Constitution accords the judicial branch. "Sana palayain ang hudikatura. Hindi po tayo pinupulitika (I hope they should let the judiciary be independent. We should be spared from politicking)," said Guerrero, who wore black along with hundreds of SC employees. SC justices attended the ceremony, but did not make any statement. The Executive branch led by President Benigno Aquino III have been at odds with the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Renato Corona's leadership because of decisions unfavorable to the interests of the Aquino administration. However, in an overseas trip last month, Mr. Aquino said justice will no longer be elusive because the SC has been more cooperative. Reacting to this, Guerrero criticized the President for making such statement. "For the judiciary, that is not right because we should not favor anyone. We should not cooperate with anyone. This seems politicking already," he told reporters later. The DBM and Aquino's allies at the House of Representatives are pushing for the inclusion of a miscellaneous personnel benefits fund (MPBF) under the proposed national budget for 2012, which is still being deliberated by Congress. The MPBF will only be released once vacant offices in government 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." Allowances Employees of the judiciary have repeatedly denounced the imminent creation of the MPBF, prompting Budget Sec. Florencio "Butch" Abad to say that the P2 billion will be released to the judiciary provided that the amount will not go to allowances and benefits of the employees. But Guerrero, speaking to reporters on Monday, said the release of the P2 billion should be unconditional because the amount will shoulder expenses and allowances of the judges are being temporarily assigned to the occupy the vacant seats. "For vacancies, we get judges from other courts. Now, would judges agree to receive no allowances for their new assignments?" Guerrero asked. The MPBF can only be accessed when vacancies are filled up, but in the judiciary, the Supreme Court assigns assisting judges and acting judges to occupy the vacancies temporarily. Appointing judges and justices is a protracted process, SC spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez earlier said. Marquez said then that the P15-billion proposed budget of the judiciary should go untouched, not just because of fiscal autonomy, but because of its measly nature. The P15 billion allotted for the judiciary, an independent co-equal branch in government, is less than 1 percent of the proposed P1.816-trillion national budget for 2012. "The budget of the judiciary is already low. The P2 billion should not be held hostage [for the MPBF]," said Guerrero. — RSJ, GMA News