Judiciary budget cut will impair services former Exec. Judge

CEBU, Philippines - The proposed cut on the budget for the judiciary next year will impair its services to the people, said former Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Meinrado Paredes.

“If that would be materialized the operation in the judiciary will suffer like the employee’s salary, equipment and expenses for the bond papers,” Paredes said.

In fact, Paredes said, the judiciary experienced a deficit in its budget such that they could no longer afford to buy bond papers. Some branches of the court had to borrow from other branches.

The Department of Budget and Management has proposed to reduce the judiciary budget for next year to P13.396 billion and transferred the allocation for unfilled positions to the miscellaneous personnel benefit fund (MPBF), which would be under the control of the Office of the President.

All of the unspent appropriations for unfilled positions in the government would go to MPBF.

Paredes said the judiciary has autonomy therefore the executive department cannot just cut its budget that easily. An official of the Supreme Court also said earlier that the move violates the concept of separation of powers, the court’s fiscal autonomy and the policy of non-reduction of the judiciary’s budget from previous years.

In other regions, court employees went on a so-called “Black Monday” to protest the proposed budget cut. Last September 11, some 100 employees of the SC and Court of Appeals also held a protest action.

Jojo Guerrero, president of the Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines (JUDEA), said the plan to cut the Judiciary’s budget violates Section 3 Article 8 of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that “the Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy.”

The idea of a fiscal autonomy is that the budget of the judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and after approval, shall be automatically and regularly released.

The Supreme Court has proposed a budget of P27.1 billion for its 2,300 justices and judges and 25,500 court personnel, but Malacañang is only giving the judiciary a budget of P13.396 billion.

At this point, however, employees at the Palace of Justice in Cebu are just awaiting the decision of new RTC Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo on whether or not a formal protest will be undertaken like what other employees of the judiciary in the region have done.

“We have no meeting, we are just waiting what to do upon the mandate of the new executive judge Silvestre Maamo,” Paredes said. (FREEMAN)