Corona may have to settle for Ochoa, Abad on budget cuts talk

DAVAO DEL SUR, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona may have to settle for either Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa or Budget Secretary Florencio Abad in discussing ways to resolve an impasse with Malacañang over the reduced judiciary budget since President Aquino is leaving for the United States.

“That (meeting with Corona) would have to be handled by the executive secretary or the Department of Budget and Management if ever I cannot do it personally,” Mr. Aquino told reporters after the launching of the Aboitiz-owned Hydropower Plant here.

The President, who will be leaving on Sept. 19 to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, said the budget cut issue had been “played up too much” in the media.

He said Corona’s meeting with members of his Cabinet would also be an “opportunity” for them to discuss his judicial reform agenda. “We look at it as a very pleasant sign (for) judicial reforms.”

Mr. Aquino said the Palace was wrongly perceived to have intentionally reduced the judiciary’s budget for next year, because allocation had actually increased by five percent from this year’s level.

“I just want to correct the impression that the judicial budget had been slashed. I talked to Secretary Abad and the budget increase would not be lower than five percent from 2010,” he said.

“We are constantly mindful of the funding needs of the judiciary. At the same time, we hope they understand that we are constantly on a tightrope in managing limited funds,” he said.

“Government finances are really tight, that’s why President Aquino instructed us to find ways to be able to use existing funds of these agencies. This is so that we can focus the limited funds of government for the executive’s poverty alleviation programs,” Abad said.

Justices and judges as well as employees of the judiciary have claimed that their salaries have not increased since 2007.

Abad clarified, however, that by virtue of Republic Act 9227 passed in 2004, the salaries of justices and judges have already increased by 100 percent in tranches from 2004 to 2007.

Under the law, the increase should come from the Special Allowances for the Judiciary (SAJ) fund, which comes from the increase in docket fees and other collections of the Supreme Court and the lower courts.

Abad noted that the judiciary may tap some P165-million worth of subsidy per year in case its collections are not sufficient to cover the increase in compensation.

But he said that until the judiciary reports to the DBM its actual collection for the SAJ, there’s no way of determining if the judiciary has enough funds to cover its requirements.

Under the proposed national budget for 2011, the proposed budget for the judiciary amounts to P14.31 billion, or five percent higher than the P13.33-billion allocation for this year.

In total, funds of the judiciary for 2011 may amount to P19.58 billion or more than one percent of the national budget, if automatic appropriations, retirement and pensions, and the projected amounts of the SAJ and the Judicial Development Fund were to be included.