VOWS DIALOG
MANILA,
SEPTEMBER 27,
2011 (TRIBUNE) The hostile relationship between the
Judiciary and the Executive is expected to come to a head today as court
employees hold a "Black Monday" protest today against plans of the Palace to dip
its hands into the budget of the judicial branch under the miscellaneous
personnel benefit fund (MPBF) item in the national budget for next year that the
Office of the President will have discretion on.
Malacañang tried to head off the nationwide protest, saying that a dialog
between the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the judiciary has been
scheduled to settle differences between the two branches of government over the
budget.
In a statement, the Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines
(Judea) said court employees will wear black shirts and armbands today and on
every Monday to show their opposition to the Palace move of impounding the
judiciary's budget.
The MPBF is a source of conflict in the budget since it reduced the
judiciary's budget for next year to P13.4 billion while juggling the budget for
unfilled positions to the MPBF.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said Budget and Management
Secretary Florencio Abad is expected to handle the situation.
Valte said Abad is open to work with the judiciary on the matter, adding that
last year, the DBM came up with a compromise with judges on the issue of
salaries and allowances.
Senators had said that the unprecedented item in the budget appears to
violate the principle of separation of powers in government.
Chief Justice Corona in a speech before the Society for Judicial Excellence
said, without referring to the Palace move, tjat judicial independence "are
being severely tested" at this time.
He remarked that "it has recently been a controversial subject of heated
debate and discussion, and even of growing protests, that the salaries of judges
and other court employees are being prejudiced by budget cuts and other ways to
curtail judicial independence."
He also cited "the never-ending threats of impeachment."
"It was one thing for the men and women of our courts to struggle against the
blatant attempts to impose authoritarian control on the judiciary during the
Martial Law years. It is quite another today, however, to ensure a balance
between the unimpeded performance of our functions and the need to assure our
people that justice is being dispensed even-handedly to all," Corona said.
He said while it is true that an active and involved citizenry is essential
in nurturing a healthy and vibrant constitutional democracy, "we must also
remember that mob-like intervention, clamor, and pressure, when taken to the
extreme, can be just as dangerous as despotic rule, at least insofar as its
capacity to obstruct the free, independent, and impartial exercise of judgment
is concerned," he noted.
Corona said, without giving specifics, that "there is a tyranny of a despot,
so can there be a tyranny of the mob, the former having the advantage of a veil
of legitimacy that the latter so obviously lacks."
Judea said the impounding of the judiciary's budget have the likely purpose
of placing the judiciary under the control of the Palace.
The statement said this could also be construed as part of a move to control
the courts, especially after the recent defeat of several Malacañang initiatives
in the Supreme Court.
The group was referring to Executive Orders (EOs) creating the Truth
commission and more recently an EO seeking to postpone the elections in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which were all rejected by the
Tribunal.
Judea said the budget allocation for the judiciary, a coequal branch of
government, should be automatically released.
The diversion of P2 billion in judiciary funds to be controlled by Malacanang
is unconstitutional, Court Administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez had
said.
He cited Section 3, Article VIII of the Constitution requires fiscal autonomy
for the judiciary.
"The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the Judiciary
may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the
previous year, and, after approval, shall be automatically and regularly
released." Marquez said, quoting the provision in the 1987 Constitution.
Malacanang earlier included the provision to divert P1.98 billion in the
national budget to the MPBF.
"There's always the Constitution. We have to go back to fundamental law and
try to find out what the Constitution says. The Constitution is as clear as day
when it comes to fiscal autonomy and non-reduction of the budget of the
judiciary," Marquez said and added that the Constitution also mandates that the
judiciary's budget shall not be lower than the previous budget.
The judiciary's current budget for this year is P14.3 billion.
Marquez said the DBM should fulfill its promise to the judicial branch that
the diverted fund would still form part of the overall budget of the judiciary.
"We'd like to believe budget of the judiciary remains at P15 billion.
However, of course, that remains to be seen once the GAA (General Appropriations
Act) is approved and signed into law come 2012. We will find out if really that
forms part of budget of the judiciary."
Judges groups earlier expressed dismay over the reduction in the judiciary's
proposed budget for 2011, to P14.65 billion from the proposed P27.1 billion.
More congressmen see the unconstitutionality of the budget proviso giving
Malacanang total control over the hiring funds of the judiciary as well as other
constitutional offices.
Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco yesterday protested the inclusion of appropriations
intended for the Judiciary including the SC, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and
all other courts; Commission on Audit (CoA), Commission on Elections (Comelec);
Civil Service Commission (CSC); and the Office of the Ombudsman in the MPBF
under the 2012 GAA for being in violation of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
In a statement, Tiangco said the Constitution is very explicit in providing
for fiscal autonomy for said offices as stated in Section 3 Article VIII,
Section 5 Article IX and Section 14 Article XI, respectively, of the 1987
Philippine Constitution.
"The provisions are in very simple and clear English and clearly, the grant
of fiscal autonomy to these agencies is to ensure their independence from the
Executive Department," Tiangco stressed.
"The full amount of about P 4.653 billion intended for these constitutional
offices transferred to the MPBF should be fully returned to these respective
offices. They (Malacanang) tried to control Congress through the release of the
priority development assistance fund (PDAF) of the congressmen, now they want to
control the five agencies through the MPBF," said Tiangco as he appealed to his
colleagues not to allow the Executive get away with the MPBF as it did with the
impeachment case against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and the bill to
postpone the ARMM elections that allows PresidentAquino to appoint
officers-in-charge for the region.
Before Congress voted on the two issues, text messages were circulated among
members of the House threatening them that their PDAFs would be withheld should
they vote against the two measures.
Tiangco refused to be bullied and voted against the two measures and suffered
the consequence as his PDAF was deliberately withheld by the Department of
Budget and Management (DBM).
"The threat of impeachment of the Supreme Court Justices would appear to be a
premature bullying tactic and also shows the real intention of the MPBF." said
Tiangco.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman has come up with a
"win-win solution" to avoid a head-on collision between the Executive, the
administration-led House and the SC.
In a statement, Lagman proposed that the MPBF be reverted to the funds for
unfilled positions to the Judiciary, Congress and Constitutional Commissions but
rein its utilization by special provisions.
Lagman proposed this compromise solution to diffuse the looming confrontation
among the SC, the Presidency and the Congress on Malacañang's inclusion in the
MPBF of the appropriations for unfilled positions which were traditionally
components of the respective Personal Service (PS) budgets of the co-equal
departments and constitutional bodies which enjoy fiscal autonomy.
In a letter dated Sept. 2011, to Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, concurrent
chairman of the Appropriation Committee and the small committee tasked with
effecting amendments to HB No. 5023 or the General Appropriations Bill (GAB),
Lagman proposed that the "funds for unfilled positions in the Judiciary,
Congress and Constitutional Commissions shall be reverted to the respective PS
outlays of the subject agencies", but adopting "special provisions to assure
transparency, proper utilization and non-diversion of funds."
If the Lagman proposed amendment is approved, the subject funds will be
regularly and automatically released but subject to special provisions.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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