Black Monday protest

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno wore a dark gray suit as judges and court employees wore black yesterday in protest against President Aquino.

It was not clear if the Chief Justice, one of the few appointees of President Aquino to the Supreme Court, was sympathizing with the “Black Monday” protest as she led the weekly flag-raising ceremony at the SC.

From afar, Sereno’s attire looked black. She greeted court employees, who applauded her presence in the judiciary’s protest against President Aquino’s public criticism of the SC last week and implied threat of impeachment of justices over their unanimous ruling declaring portions of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.

Sereno did not speak to reporters.

Another Aquino appointee, Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, stood out in her black blazer. Justice Marvic Leonen, the fourth appointee of Aquino, was in a barong Tagalog but quipped that he was wearing black pants.

At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said he saw no problem if judiciary employees wore black.

“This is a free country,” he said. “Everybody is free to express their opinion one way or the other.”

Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Mariano del Castillo, Martin Villarama Jr. and Jose Perez and were also present.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was absent.

An SC member said the color of the attire of the justices should not be given political meaning.

“We don’t speak through colors or attires, which are political,” the insider told The STAR. “We are apolitical and we only speak through our decisions.”

Employees of the Sandiganbayan wore red shirts and black armbands yesterday to protest the actions of the executive and legislature against the judiciary.

Members of the Sandiganbayan Employees Association (SEA) told The STAR the red shirt symbolizes their dissent to moves in Congress to abolish the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF).

The black armbands are in protest over “oppressive taxes” that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has imposed on their allowances and other financial benefits.

The protest is also an offshoot of President Aquino’s speech last week attacking the Supreme Court (SC)’s unanimous decision declaring parts of DAP unconstitutional.

Judges of Manila courts joined the protest and attended their flag-raising ceremony in black shirts.

There are over 2,000 judges and 27,000 employees in courts nationwide.

Court employees close ranks

Joel Guerrero, Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA) president, urged Aquino to respect the SC decision on the DAP.

“We hope he abides by the law and respects the decision,” he said.

“The President should be reminded that he is in his position precisely due to the same Constitution he violated.

“We hope that after his term, he would be held liable. Anyway, the Sandiganbayan has a spacious detention cell.”

Most court employees who voted for Aquino in the 2010 presidential election now regret their decision, Guerrero said.

Maurino Aguilar, Judicial Employees Association vice president, and Amiel de Vera, Association of Court of Appeals Employees president, backed Guerrero.

“To take away the JDF is to take away the legitimate benefits from the more than 30,000 employees of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and the trial courts,” Aguilar said.

“We beg to disagree with President Aquino, JDF is not the same as the President’s DAP.”

De Vera added: “Before we can even get hold of our salaries, taxes were already deducted. Our benefits are also taxed. Not yet contented with the taxes they withheld, now they are targeting the benefits.”

They will question before the SC BIR Memorandum Order No. 23-2014 imposing tax on special allowances and anniversary bonus of judges and court employees.

The SEA denounced the BIR in a 30-minute walkout for preying on their supposedly non-taxable allowances and other financial perks.

It is readying a petition before the SC for their benefits to be returned to them and for a salary increase.

STAR sources said the anti-graft court’s administration backs the call to stop the BIR from imposing new tax cuts, although officials are not members of the employee’s union.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials said the tax cuts have also affected justices as they will also suffer deductions in their Special Allowance for Judges and Justices (SAJJ).

A number of SC rulings have stated that fringe benefits are non-taxable, and that cutting the take-home allowance of rank-and-file employees who have meager income is wrong, a source said.

In Negros Occidental, about 80 percent of the judges and court employees wore black shirts yesterday to join the nationwide protest against a proposal to abolish the JDF.

Lawyer Gerald John Joven, Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE) Negros Occidental chapter president, said they are supporting the Black Monday silent protest.

“In these embattled times, when the integrity of the SC as a coequal branch of the government is subjected to unsound political accusations and attempts to undermine its fiscal autonomy, the PACE strongly believes that the rule of law has to be respected and that the sacrosanct role of the Philippine Constitution, upon which all political rights and powers emanate from, has to be upheld at all times,” he said.

PACE stands firm and one in support of the SC in maintaining a strong judicial system founded on the principles of efficiency, probity and independence, he added.

Joven said the SC earned the ire of the executive and legislature for voiding unconstitutional legislative and executive programs.

“In apparent retaliation, new measures like the abolition of the JDF and Special Allowance for Justices and Judges are being undertaken to attack and impair its stability, directly and implicitly persuading it to give in to unrelenting political demands,” he said.

Joven said PACE strongly condemns these maneuverings and that the judiciary must be freed from all forms and vestiges of political pressures couched on personal agenda.

“PACE manifests its vote of confidence in favor of the SC and will continue to be watchful in order to safeguard the honor of the judiciary,” he said.

“And notwithstanding these disheartening developments, PACE and the SC will remain faithful to their responsibility of administering justice to everyone that is worthy of public trust and confidence.”

Not discretionary

Members of the judiciary are also protesting moves of in Congress to abolish the JDF and BIR’s action to raise tax deductions on bonuses and allowances.

In December last year, Sereno said the JDF is not the same as the pork barrel fund of the lawmakers.

“(The JDF is) a special purpose fund established in 1984 under Presidential Decree No. 1949 for the benefit of the members and personnel of the judiciary to help ensure and guarantee the independence of the judiciary as mandated by the Constitution and public policy and required by the impartial administration of justice,” she said.

Sereno said the JDF is not discretionary like the pork barrel as the law also requires that “80 percent of the fund be used for cost of living allowances, while not more than 20 percent be used for office equipment and facilities of the courts.”

The 80-percent component of the JDF is released monthly to employees as cost-of-living allowances, she added.

As of last Nov. 30, the JDF’s 20-percent component has an accumulated balance of P1.435 billion, according to a report of the SC’s office of fiscal management and budget office.

Of this amount, P732.5 million has been earmarked for the construction of Court of Appeals buildings in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City and consultancy services for the electrical system of the SC building in Manila.

Another P620.7 million has been certified as available for the SC’s various capital outlays, including the procurement of computer sets and construction and repair of courthouses.

The JDF’s 20-percent amounting to P200 million per annum is barely enough for the court to source its budget for renovations, repairs and construction of halls of justice and for the various equipment needed for court operations, Sereno said.

In September last year, the JDF reports were submitted to the House of Representatives committee on appropriations and the Senate finance committee during the budget deliberations for the passage of the 2014 budget.

Guerrero said they have no problem with a post-audit of judicial funds to prove no misuse of judicial funds.

“What we can’t bear is that they want to starve us and make us look stupid. We are under dignified silence, but it’s about time to speak,” he said in Filipino.

Judges and court employees last held a “Black Monday” protest in 2012 to support then chief justice Renato Corona during his impeachment trial. – With Michael Punongbayan, Delon Porcalla, Danny Dangcalan