SC to House: You can’t touch JDF

MANILA, Philippines - Congress cannot touch the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), which congressmen have labeled as the pork barrel of the Supreme Court (SC), according to the tribunal.

The legislature cannot even amend Presidential Decree (PD) 1949, the law creating the JDF, as this would violate the judiciary’s constitutionally mandated fiscal autonomy.

Deputy court administrator Raul Villanueva articulated this stand of the high court during the House appropriations committee deliberations on the proposed P20.3-billion budget for the judiciary for next year.

Villanueva said the SC would fight or junk any move or legislation that in its view would violate the independence and fiscal autonomy of the judiciary.

He said there have been precedents when the SC reversed legislation that contravened judicial independence and autonomy.

Villanueva addressed the appropriations committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab as two of his SC bosses, Justices Bienvenido Reyes and Disdado Peralta, listened. The three were sent to the hearing by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to represent her and defend the judiciary budget.

At times, the two justices nodded their heads, apparently in agreement to what their deputy court administration was saying. They did not speak a word.

The SC officer articulated the court’s stand on moves in the House to look into the JDF and the law creating it in response to questions raised by Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.

Fariñas said the House is within its right to review, amend or even repeal PD 1949 since the decree is a law.

He said the SC has been resorting to “judicial legislation” in interpreting the independence and fiscal autonomy of the judiciary.

“It expanded the sources of funds for the JDF, a legislative act that should have belonged to Congress,” he said.

He added that in one case, the SC reversed a law exempting cooperatives from paying legal fees as this would reduce JDF collections and violate the judiciary’s fiscal autonomy.

“By all means, we will review the law creating the JDF. We might amend it or even repeal it. And impeachment will be an option on our part if the Supreme Court will stop us or declare a bill changing or repealing the JDF law as unconstitutional,” he told Villanueva, Reyes and Peralta.

The House committee on justice chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. will pursue its investigation into the JDF even without the SC’s participation.

Sereno has informed Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. that the high court would not participate in the inquiry until motions for reconsideration on cases involving the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) are resolved with finality.

“We will continue the hearings on the JDF. We will set the continuation of the inquiry for next month,” Tupas earlier told reporters.

“The legislative work of the committee to make the use of public funds more transparent and public officers more accountable cannot be held hostage by the refusal of the Supreme Court to participate,” he said.

He said the SC is conveniently hiding behind the concept of judicial independence and the unresolved cases involving DAP and PDAF.

He pointed out that the DAP and PDAF issues have no relation at all to the two pending bills that seek to dismantle the JDF as a discretionary fund of the SC, transfer it to the national treasury and let Congress appropriate the money.