POINTING out to how cash-strapped the country’s judiciary is and how this has hampered it from fully performing its mandate, senator-elect Raffy Tulfo has stressed the need for a higher budget to be allocated to the so-called third pillar of governance or the judicial branch of government.
This was the opinion of the former broadcaster and now incoming senator who pointed out that since the courts are “in urgent need of improvement of their physical facilities, technologies and number of personnel in actual positions filled,” these concern must be properly addressed.
“(I will) work to push for a PhP55-billion budget for the judiciary when the upper chamber starts deliberations on the proposed 2023 national budget in the 19th Congress,” he disclosed even as he noted that for 2022 the Supreme Court and the lower courts were given a budget of only PhP39.7 billion.
“This does not yet include the allocations for the Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, and the Presidential Electoral Tribunal,” Tulfo cited.
He stressed that during the budget formulation process in 2021 prior to the budget submission to Congress, the Supreme Court said it needed PhP67.28 billion but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed this down to PhP44.98 billion due to the agency’s budget ceiling parameters. Later, Congress increased the judicial budget to PhP45.31 billion.
In ending, Tulfo opined that as the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government, it must be made exempt from the DBM’s budget ceiling formula.
“Slashing the original budget request by P22.3 billion does not only seem disrespectful of the co-equal branch, but there is inevitable denial of public service to Filipino citizens, which is the greater injustice,” the new senator concluded.
