SC workers to protest moves to scrutinize, abolish judiciary funds

Supreme Court employees will stage a protest rally next week against moves from several lawmakers to scrutinize and even abolish the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), described by some group as the judiciary branch's “pork barrel.”

Jojo Guerrero, president of the 3,000-strong Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA), said they will hold the protest rally on Monday after the regular flag-raising ceremony at the Supreme Court grounds along Padre Faura in Manila.

“We will be staging our protest, not only a protest but a statement na on Monday, magre-red kmi. Others will wear black. Pero most of us will wear red,” Guerrero said.

He said the move against the JDF is an “attack against the Constitution, it's not an attack against the judiciary, it's an attack against the Constitution.”

He maintained that the JDF is not being misused and that all the financial benefits they get from it come from lawful sources.

Guerrero said that the JDF is not like the legislative branch's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. According to him, 80 percent of the JDF goes to court employees while 20 percent goes to “development.”

Three administration allies—Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas—have earlier expressed their intention to examine in detail the proposed budget for the judiciary and the JDF when deliberations for the proposed 2015 national budget started in August.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., meanwhile, has filed  House Bill 4738, which seeks to repeal Presidential Decree 1949, which formally established the JDF.

The SC has been defending the JDF as early as December last year. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said that while she was given the power to administer and allocate the JDF, she was “not given any discretion on how he funds will be used.”

She said the law mandates that 80 percent of the JDF should be used for cost of living allowances, which was to be released to employees every month, and not more than 20 percent of it should be used for office equipment and facilities of the court. —KBK, GMA News