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MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) denied yesterday asking President Aquino for P4 billion for a new building.
SC spokesman Theodore Te said the Court is in discussions for a property to construct a new building, but that it has not asked the Aquino for P4 billion or any amount of money for a new building.
The SC had asked Congress to increase the judiciary’s budget for next year by some P4 billion, Te clarified.
He said the SC asked for an additional P2,625,769,000 in Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses for the lower courts to eliminate dependency on local government support for its day to day operations.
“The amounts sought are not for a new building, as reported in the news item,” he said.
Te said the judiciary also asked for another P1,474,425,000 in funds for additional personnel services to fund the creation of about 2,200 co-terminous legal researcher positions to be assigned to each lower court judge.
Contrary to news reports, the University of the Philippines is not asking the SC for the return of its property in Padre Faura, Manila, Te added.
The SC is reportedly being asked to move out of its present location in Padre Faura.
Commenting on the story, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad texted The STAR: “Much of what I know – but not necessarily true – is what you already wrote about today.”
He said he was surprised at the P4-billion figure.
“There is no engineering design yet, much less a POW (program of work),” he said. “Is that for land and building or building alone? So how can SC ask for funding at this stage when details are not defined yet? I know for a fact that the SC complex stands on UP property.”
The funding request was made amid the controversy on Malacañang’s use of government savings under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), whose constitutionality is scheduled to be tackled at the SC today.
Belmonte: No to impeachment of justices
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. doused cold water yesterday on the plan of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali to initiate an impeachment complaint against at least three SC justices.
“As Speaker, I’m against the exercise,” he said. “Remember, I myself have been a key player in several of these impeachment cases, and to be very frank, I’m against the filing of any impeachment cases against any justices however much we may disagree, however much we are affected by their decisions.”
Speaking to reporters, Belmonte said adverse decisions of the SC involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund and members of the House of Representatives are not grounds for impeaching SC justices. – Edu Punay, Jess Diaz, Jose Rodel Clapano
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