Judges to continue protest vs cut in judiciary budget

By Edu Punay (The Philippine Star) Updated December 24, 2010 

MANILA, Philippines - Judges all over the country vowed yesterday to continue next year their actions to protest the cut in the judiciary’s proposed budget for 2011, with some of them even willing to take their cause to the streets.

A trial court judge who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that some of them want drastic actions “to the extent of marching to the Palace” following the move of Congress to cut by almost half the judiciary’s proposed budget of P27.1 billion for 2011.

Asked if staging street protest or going on mass leave would be among their options, Philippine Judges Association (PJA) president and Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio Eugenio Jr. said it would be discussed when over 2,000 first- and second-level court judges convene next month for a national summit to address their budget concerns.

“We want to get the consensus of everyone on what we will do next,” he said in an interview.

He said officers of the three organizations – PJA, Philippine Trial Judge League (PTJL) and Metropolitan and City Judges Association of the Philippines (MCJAP) – would meet after the holiday break to finalize the summit tentatively set on Jan. 29.

But the PJA head revealed that the Supreme Court does not approve of such proposals of mass actions of the judges.

“The Supreme Court does not encourage any protest that will disrupt judicial work of trial judges,” he explained.

Eugenio revealed that the officers would also reassess in their upcoming meeting the “black Monday protest” that they had started earlier this month to express disapproval of an earlier move of the Palace to cut the judiciary’s 2010 proposed budget to P14.3 billion.

Since the first Monday of December, members of the three groups started their work week in their respective judicial regions wearing black armbands or shirts.

This was before Congress adopted the recommendation of the Palace in the bicameral meeting last week and only added P35 million for additional budget of the Court of Appeals.

President Aquino is set to sign the Congress-approved 2011 national budget of P1.645 trillion on Dec. 27.

Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez, who supervises the trial court judges nationwide, refused to comment on the judges’ plans.

Marquez, for his part, had reportedly appealed the decisions of both House and Senate and submitted motions for reconsideration seeking at least P3.5 billion in addition to the approved P14.3-billion budget for the judiciary.

But his appeal was denied by Congress. He then asked for just P1.5 billion increase, which was also denied.

Marquez was earlier set to meet with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. at the height of this controversy, but the meeting did not push through.

The High Court, in a strongly worded statement issued last September, had warned of a possible “judicial revolt” due to the cuts in its budget for next year.

The High Court said there is a limit to the performance of justices, judges and personnel of the judiciary of their sworn duty to decide cases expeditiously and dispense justice fairly despite insufficient appropriations from national coffers in the past four years.

“Our courts will continue to function, as they have always functioned fairly and heroically, under extreme stress, and under unfavorable conditions that undermine their judicial independence, efficiency and integrity. Many of our judges and justices will continue to use their own personal computers and printers, repair their own courtrooms, work on weekends to declog their dockets.”

“But until when can they last? Are we waiting for our justices and judges to march the streets, for the judiciary to revolt, for justice to ground to a halt? Are we courting chaos?” the SC had warned.

The SC had admitted – probably for the first time – that its courts have been “under intense pressure” and have been “steadily weakened” by the lack of sufficient funding from government.

“The judiciary, a co-equal branch of the two other branches of government, with a workforce of 2,300 justices and judges, and 25,500 court personnel across the country, has not even received at least one percent of the national budget. In 2007, the judiciary got only .76 percent of the national budget; in 2008, .88 percent; in 2009, .94 percent and in 2010, .87 percent,” it revealed.

This problem in funding is expected to continue up to next year when the judiciary stands to receive only 0.78 percent of the national budget.

Marquez earlier revealed that judges and justices have not been receiving their full rightful wages and allowances from 2007 up to now.

Apart from this, Marquez lamented how the Court has not acted on dilapidated courtrooms, citing for instance the case of Manila trial courts that continue to be dispersed in the Manila City Hall, in the old dilapidated building of the Ombudsman, and in the antiquated condemned structure of the GSIS due to lack of a hall of justice in the capital.

“Our courts lack computers and printers, and its case dockets are clogged. One judge services 50,000 inhabitants, far from the ideal ratio of one judge for every 10,000 constituents. RA 8369, otherwise known as ‘The Family Courts Act of 1997,’ creating child and family courts and appropriating funds for said courts, remains unimplemented and unfunded after more than a decade, yet our present courts continue to hear thousands of child and family cases,” it stressed.

The SC also revealed that budget problems in the judiciary extend even to retired judges and justices, who continue to wait and line up to receive and enjoy their full benefits and pensions.

Marquez had explained that the cuts in the proposed budget of the judiciary would impact on the judiciary’s personnel services, fund for retirees, health allowances for workers and capital outlay.