Court employees pray for pay hike

Some 500 court employees, clad in black T-shirts, held a prayer rally yesterday at the Bonifacio Shrine beside Manila City Hall to dramatize their demand to be included in a bill seeking a salary increase for justices, judges and prosecutors.

Some of the protesters came all the way from the provinces like Tacloban to be a part of the prayer rally.

Lawyer Raymond Tan, president of PACE-Regional Trial Court Manila, said they want lawmakers to include the court’s rank-and-file employees in the plan to increase salaries by 25 percent.

"We are calling our lawmakers to include the court’s rank-and-file in the salary increase. We hope that with this mass action, our lawmakers would give in to our request," Tan said.

In a statement, PACE said the judiciary works like a mechanical equipment in the performance of its mission. "Every component, from the highest collegial body down to the most lowly court employee has a critical role to perform, for the smooth functioning of the system."

In Quezon City, some 1,000 rank-and-file employees of the city’s regional and metropolitan trial courts held a similar prayer rally at Hall of Justice to call on Congress to formulate fair legislation.

House Bill 5178 seeks additional allowances to justices, judges and lawyers effective July 2002. The bill is currently being deliberated in Congress.

The money from the increase will be taken from Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and court filing fees, which at present is given to all court employees with monthly paychecks of between P2,500 and P4,000.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilarion Davide said the rank-and-file "have a cause for grievance."

Manila judges, led by Executive Judge Enrico Lanzanas, said judges would not be effective in resolving cases without the efficient assistance of the court employees, from legal researchers down to the utility workers. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Pia Lee-Brago