Executive branch to discuss budget with judiciary

President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III said he is planning to talk to Chief Justice Reynato Corona about the protest of some judges over the proposed 2011 budget for the judiciary. There were reported grumblings within the judiciary after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) proposed a P14.1-billion budget for the judiciary for next year. Even though the figure is 5 percent higher than this year's P13.33-billion budget, it is way lower than the P27-billion budget the judiciary is asking for. "I'll be asking for a meeting with Chief Justice Corona basically to discuss this issue. It's a question of interpretation of various laws," Aquino said at a press briefing in Camp Crame on Tuesday. Reports surfaced earlier about a planned mass leave among lower court judges and personnel over the 2011 budget. The president said he hopes the mass leave will not push through. "I hope they're not going to do that. They have a very necessary function and I'm sure that most if not all of them are very upright individuals who would want to do real service to the people," he said. Supreme Court administrator Midas Marquez on Monday quelled fears that lower court judges and personnel would go on mass leave but he reiterated that the judiciary needs better funding. "How can you expect our justices and judges to act independently when they will have to plead to our executive department for their additional wages? How can you expect them to decide with integrity when they are not receiving the right pay as legislated by Congress? How can you expect them to be efficient when there are vacancies?" said Marquez. Marquez cited some of the judiciary's problems: * the court system has about 23 percent vacant posts; * there are about 600,000 pending cases nationwide, and * 6,000 of the pending cases are before the Supreme Court. Marquez also cited that the judiciary has 2,300 justices and judges and over 25,500 court personnel nationwide. DBM Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad said in a separate statement on Tuesday that the executive branch is willing to hold dialogues with the judiciary over its concerns with the proposed 2011 budget. Abad said the Aquino administration is not ignoring the concerns of the judiciary but it had to tighten the budget for the judicial branch because of limited government funds. “We are constantly mindful of the funding needs of the judiciary. At the same time, we hope they understand that we are constantly on a tightrope in managing limited funds," said Abad. “Government finances are really tight, that’s why President Aquino instructed us to find ways to be able to use existing funds of these agencies. This is so that we can focus the limited funds of government for the executive’s poverty alleviation programs," he said. Through Republic Act 9227, passed in 2004, the salaries of justices and judges have already increased by 100 percent, in tranches, from 2004 to 2007, Abad said. Abad said that under the law, the compensation increase should come from the Special Allowances for the Judiciary (SAJ) fund, which he said comes from the increase in docket fees and other collections of the Supreme Court and lower court. According to the DBM chief, the judiciary has been given a subsidy worth P165 billion per year in cases its collections cannot cover the increase in compensations. Abad, however, said the DBM will find it difficult to determine if the SAJ fund is enough to cover compensation requirements pending reports from the judiciary. If automatic appropriations, retirement pensions, and projected amounts of the SAJ fund and Judicial Development Fund would be included, the total funds for the judiciary for 2011 could amount to P19.58 billion, said the DBM chief. –VVP, GMANews.TV