Cash Allowance Controversy: Judges hit action of two colleagues

CEBU – Some Regional Trial Court judges in Cebu City are frowning upon the reaction of their colleagues to the controversy surrounding the provision of cash allowances to judges by local government units.

These judges said that Judges Gabriel Ingles and Mienrado Paredes failed to adhere to their agreement to come up with a unified position on the issue when they wrote a letter to Cebu City government and Cebu provincial government declining the offer of monthly cash allowances from the two LGUs.

One of the judges, who requested anonymity, said that Ingles and Paredes wanted to come out “self-righteous” by informing the provincial and city governments of their decision to decline the monthly allowance.

According to him, the judges had a previous agreement that they would confront the controversy as one but Paredes and Ingles acted on their own.

Ingles, in a separate interview, however, said he was not privy to the agreement. He said he did what he thought was the right thing to do under the circumstances.

Ingles did not issue any comment on the reported adverse reactions of his colleagues to his move.

Ingles and Paredes earlier informed Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and the Cebu City government through a letter that they are declining the monthly allowances.

The judges are receiving P6,000 and P5,000 monthly allowances from the province and the city, respectively.

The move of Ingles and Paredes came in reaction to the alleged withholding of monthly allowance to RTC Branch 20 Judge Bienvenido Saniel by the provincial government.

Capitol reportedly cut Saniel’s monthly allowance after he ruled against the province in a civil case it filed against Mayor Tomas Osmeña over the appointment of the member of the board of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

The provincial government earlier wanted the court to nullify the appointment of Joel Mari Yu to the MCWD board on contention that Osmeña has no authority to make such appointment.

But the Capitol did not confirm nor deny the alleged withholding of Saniel’s allowance.

A reliable source, however, said that acting Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo received a directive to drop Saniel from the payroll. But Maamo refused to heed the directive.

But none of the judges was willing to confirm it, saying that they have agreed not to talk about it. –/LPM (THE FREEMAN)