‘Noy effectively supports scrutiny of judiciary fund use’

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has effectively supported congressional scrutiny of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and the Special Allowances for Judges (SAJ) Fund by retaining a special provision inserted by the Senate and the House of Representatives in the enacted budget subjecting all off-budget funds to congressional monitoring and examination, lawmakers said.

Some lawmakers have labeled the JDF and the SAJ as the Supreme Court’s pork barrel.

Lawmakers estimate that the JDF alone holds about P5 billion. The two funds are “off budget” accounts, meaning they are not part of the national budget. It is only the SC that decides on their use. They are funded from court revenues like filing fees.

In signing the P2.265-trillion 2014 national budget last Friday, the President did not veto or reject the special provision allowing congressional monitoring and examination of all off-budget funds.

The two chambers included the provision during the bicameral conference on the final version of next year’s budget. It was the first time that the special proviso appeared in the annual appropriations law.

It requires “all departments, bureaus and offices of the national government, including constitutional offices enjoying fiscal autonomy” like the SC, the Commission on Elections and the Commission on Audit (COA), to submit quarterly and annual financial and accomplishment reports on off-budget and on-budget funds.

Though the JDF and SAJ are not specifically mentioned, lawmakers said the two special funds are covered by the reportorial requirement.

The reports are to be submitted to the Senate committee on finance, House committee on appropriations and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). They should also be posted on the agencies’ websites and copies should be sent to the COA.

The reports “shall show the cumulative allotments, realignments within the agency, augmentation of funds from all sources, obligations incurred/liquidated, total disbursements, unliquidated obligations, unobligated and unexpended balances, and the results of expended appropriations.”

The documents “shall also include detailed statements on the disbursements and utilization of appropriations for the purchase of motor vehicles and equipment, capital investment outlays, as well as appropriations earmarked and released for rentals, travels, petroleum, oil and lubricants, water, illumination and power services, telephone and other telecommunication services.”

The DBM is required to submit to the Senate finance committee and the House appropriations committee a quarterly report “on the realignment of funds it has approved and releases made from the lump-sum special purpose funds, supplemental appropriations, continuing appropriations, and as applicable, the unreleased balances of such appropriations.”

Another provision in the 2014 budget law requires the SC to remit P541,428,000 to the national treasury, “considering that the special allowance granted to justices, judges” and others with equivalent rank “have already been fully integrated into their salary increases as of June 1, 2012.”

Once the amount is remitted, “the salary being received by the members of the judiciary shall be sourced and funded from the General Fund,” the provision states.

Scrutiny by the Senate finance committee and the House appropriations committee of the Supreme Court’s two special funds would be separate from the hearings the House committee on justice intends to conduct on the highest tribunal’s “pork barrel.”

Congressmen claim they are not getting back at the SC for its ruling striking down the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional, and that in fact they are doing what the justices had told them to do: to reclaim their power over the nation’s purse.

‘Pork’ remains

As the government reveled at the on-schedule enactment of the 2014 budget, former national treasurer Leonor Briones bewailed what she considered traces of pork in some items in the approved budget.

“Since the PDAF was realigned to agencies without details, the challenge now is for civil society organizations and citizens to remain vigilant and monitor the agencies. The details of these transfers are not yet out. We have to know how the money is spent and who spends it,” Briones said. The former national treasurer is also lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines (SWP).

“The approved budget has a provision requiring all agencies and constitutional offices with fiscal autonomy to submit quarterly and annual financial statements and accomplishment reports to the DBM, the Senate and the House of Representatives. This has always been the case. It is in Section 86 of the General Provisions of the General Appropriations Bill, ” said Briones.

“However, people should also know that the same provision provides that the DBM has to report quarterly on lump sum appropriations to the House committee on appropriations and Senate committee on finance as well. According to the COA, DBM has not been complying,” she said.

Briones said lump sums in the budget include the Special Purpose Funds (P283 billion) and the Unprogrammed Funds (P139 billion).

In light of the damage caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda, new items in the SPFs and Unprogrammed Funds were created. These are the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program funds (P20 billion) to be drawn from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund; and the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Fund (P80 billion) sourced from Unprogrammed Funds.

“These lump sums constitute what has been coined as presidential or executive pork,” Briones noted. 

She said P796 billion or 35 percent of the approved budget is automatically appropriated and not reviewed by Congress.– With Rhodina Villanueva