THE Senate Finance subcommittee approved the request of the Judiciary to increase by P7.47 billion its P44.98 billion proposed budget allotted earlier by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for 2022.
During Monday’s budget hearing, the subcommittee chaired by Senator Sonny Angara vowed to back the plea made by the judiciary through its Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez before the plenary.
Marquez reiterated to the committee that the budget being proposed by the DBM for 2020 is unconstitutional because it is lower compared to its P45.31 billion budget this year.
“For the current year 2021, the entire judiciary was given P45.31 billion and then we were proposing P67.28 billion for 2022. However, the DBM is just giving P44.98 billion that means, there is actually a variance from our proposed 2022 of P67.28 billion to what is being given by DBM of P44.98 billion: There is a variance of P22.3 billion,” Marquez explained.
“What is equally telling is I think the proposed DBM budget is lower than the current 2021 budget of the Judiciary….It is lower and it is actually in violation of the Constitution, specifically of Section 3 of Article VIII,” he added.
Marquez said Section 3 of Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution provides that the judiciary cannot be given a budget lower than what it had been given for the previous year.
Out of the P22.3 billion variance, Marquez said the judiciary is requesting Congress to reconsider or give back P7.47 billion to the judiciary in addition to the P44.98 billion proposed budget by DBM.
The amount being sought for reconsideration, according to Marquez, would address the supposed constitutional violation on the DBM’s proposed budget as this would peg the judiciary budget for 2022 at P52.37 billion, which is higher than last year.
The P7.47 billion increase in budget, according to the Marquez, will be allocated for newly-created positions, such as the Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) composed of retired justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
The JIB is tasked to evaluate the administrative cases filed against the justices, judges and court personnel and make recommendations to the SC.
The fund will also cover the new positions for the lower court totaling to 782 for 56 family courts, hazard pay for judges and communication expenses for the first and second level court in light of the Judiciary’s decision to hold court proceedings via videoconferencing, among others.
Responding to Marquez’s presentation, Angara noted the committee’s continued support for the budget of the Judiciary and the different courts.
“Without further ado, there’s a motion. Hearing no objection, the motion is approved and the budget of the judiciary, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, and the Court of Tax Appeals, and other courts is approved at the committee level and will be favorably recommended to plenary for plenary debate,” Angara said.
Senator Francisco Tolentino moved for the approval of the budget of the Judiciary with the other requirement that they be given an increase during the plenary.
“There is a motion. The chair has no issues with the judiciary and in fact would like to reiterate his continuing support for all the courts and for the increase in the budget which we will do at the appropriate time,” Angara said in response to Tolentino.