Grumbling judges no different from protesting students — Palace

The Palace mocked the wearing of black arm bands by justices throughout the country to protest the huge cuts in the budget for the judiciary and com-pared it with the mass actions of militant college students who are complaining about the slashed allocations for state universities and colleges.

Presidential spokes-man Edwin Lacierda also gave the same reply to protesting judges as the one it issued on pro-testing state-sponsored students.

“There were no cuts in the judiciary budget. This is similar to (argument raised on the issue of the) SUC (budget) that they (students) are claiming that we cut their budget. No, we did not cut the budget of the Supreme Court and other lower courts. Our budget is higher than in 2010,” he claimed.

But later on at the news conference, Lacierda confirmed that the government indeed sought to cut P8-billion out of the P24-billion budget proposed by the judiciary which is intended for personal services because, he said, the nation’s purse cannot

afford to allocate that amount for the item.

Lacierda added it should be Supreme Court (SC) administrator Jose Midas Marquez who must explain to public lawyers and judges the necessity for them to live within the P14-3-billion allocation that the government has provided.

“The DBM did not cut the budget of the judiciary. Midas Marquez should explain that properly. What they were asking for is P24-billion which is so huge insofar as the 2011 NEP (National Expenditure Program) is concerned. Out of that P24-billion, P8-billion intended for personal services was cut because our public funds cannot afford that. Number two, the budget that they proposed for the NEP is higher than the 2011 NEP budget. So whatever it is that they’re claiming is not true. Our budget is higher today,” Lacierda insisted.

“Essentially, there are funds available for the Supreme Court which are off budget and I think those reports where Senator Frank Drilon required Midas Marquez to submit accountability reports before the DBM. So in addition to the budget that they’re getting from the 2011 NEP, there’ll be additional sources of funds that are in the possession of the Supreme Court. I think the math there of the salary and the compensation of the judges should be fully explored and discussed with Midas Marquez and not with us first because apparently they are not aware of the status of the funds in the Supreme Court in the judiciary. So it behooves on Midas Marquez to explain to the judges that it’s not up to us,” he stated further.

Lacierda insisted that the complaints raised by the grumbling judges are unreasonable because they don’t live in a perfect world where all their desires can be granted.

“There is no reason for them to complain. Again, in a perfect world, if we have the money we’ll give all the departments their desired budget. Budgets, their proposed budgets were cut across the board. But even then, the budget of the judiciary has increased from year 2010,” he said.

Lacierda, nonetheless, mentioned that their doors remain open in case the protesting judges would like to speak with Budget Secretary Butch Abad regarding their concerns — cementing further the similarities he has established in the separate budget issues held by the judiciary and the SUCs.

Aquino, back when the judges first stood against the SC budget cuts, had promised to speak with Chief Justice Renato Corona to address their concerns but nothing happened to that plan.

Lacierda, when asked to explain this matter, apparently passed the buck once again to Marquez for some unknown reason, saying: “We are open. We are waiting for Midas Marquez to inform us. I understand some judges would like to meet with us but that didn’t happen.”

Senator Joker Arroyo, meanwhile, urged the legislative and judiciary branches of the government to mend fences after the SC ruled as unconstitutional the formation of Truth Commission.

“I would hope that the judiciary and Malacañang should mend fences for the good of the country,” Arroyo said when asked for comment.

“We cannot continue with this kind of situation with the executive and the judiciary are at odds. That is very unfortunate. Let’s just hope that this doesn’t get worst,” the veteran lawmaker added.  –Aytch de la Cruz, Daily Tribune