House, Palace keep up pressure on JDF

MANILA, Philippines - With the Supreme Court deliberating on the government’s appeal on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), Malacañang continued yesterday its criticism of the SC.

At the same time, the House of Representatives is proceeding with its probe on the use of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF).

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas intends to personally submit to the SC today a letter on the JDF after Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and other magistrates declined to attend the initial hearing of the House justice committee into the fund last week.

Fariñas, senior vice chairman of the panel, said he would have the SC receive his letter wherein he detailed Sereno’s alleged violation of the Constitution and Presidential Decree 1949 that created the JDF, to give her and other SC members a chance to clear themselves and avert possible impeachment.

“The Filipino people that I represent are now demanding that I file impeachment cases against you (SC justices) but I won’t do that yet. I’ll dialogue with you first. But they don’t want that, there are procedures (for redress) in our Constitution, the people are not helpless,” Fariñas told radio station dzBB.

“I’m doing this to speed up things, and I do it myself. The funny thing is, I wanted to sue them but how can I sue them when they’re the judges?” he said.

“I’ll call their attention to what I see as their violations of the law and the Constitution, and ask them to study my points, and my view that it’s clear that these (disbursement of JDF) also violate the doctrine they set in the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) and PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) rulings,” he added.

He said his original plan was to petition for certiorari to prohibit the SC itself from disbursing the JDF but he thought the process tedious, including payment of filing fee, part of which goes to the fund.

Fariñas, however, said his letter could still merit formal action from the SC as it contains a prayer for the magistrates to act on its contents.

He said his letter used the same arguments and principles cited by the SC, including the separate and distinct roles of the three branches of government when it comes to public funds.

Sereno, in her letter to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., declined to attend the initial hearing, which she described as “premature” and “inappropriate.”

The investigation is widely seen as the Aquino administration’s way of getting back at the magistrates for their setbacks in the SC.

Fariñas said he believes that the impeachment of Sereno and other magistrates will obtain support in the House in the event the controversy is not immediately resolved.

Earlier, pro-administration lawmakers said they were raring to impeach Sereno, and possibly her colleagues, for alleged misuse of the JDF.

Fariñas stressed the investigation was not a form of vengeance but simply part of the legislative hearings into pending bills seeking to repeal or amend PD 1949.

Under the law, 80 percent of the JDF must go to allowances of employees and other members of the judiciary and the remaining fund spent for office equipment.

He said another opportunity for lawmakers to grill Sereno or other SC justices is when the appropriations committee deliberates on the proposed budget of the judiciary next week.

The lawmaker said the panel continues to uncover possible illegal disbursements from the JDF, including putting up the Philippine Mediation Center office without the nod of Congress, which is the only body that could authorize the creation of agencies and offices.

He said the office also collects fees that go to the JDF and not the national treasury.

During the initial committee hearing, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, chairman of the panel, cited a 2012 COA report that showed some P6.03 million was disbursed from the JDF as various loans for court employees for motorcycles, P2.839 million for computers, and P1.196 million for handguns.

He also questioned a P300 million deposit made by the SC, apparently taken from the JDF, in a high-yield account at the LandBank.

He said the SC appears to act like an investment company when the mandate of PD 1949 on where the JDF should go was clear.

Tupas also said the SC in the past years have given millions of pesos in assistance to various local government units, including those in Cebu.

He also said there are reports that the SC has about P3 billion in savings from unfilled positions that were used for allowances of members of the judiciary.

Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday that Malacañang does not want to engage the judiciary in any kind of squabble but declared it would be best if Filipinos in general let their sentiments be known on the apparently secretive policies of the Supreme Court justices.

He was referring to the alleged refusal of SC justices to furnish the Bureau of Internal Revenue copies of their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) that all government officials – from President Aquino down to the lowest level – have been filing. – With Delon Porcalla