Despite his recent complaints against some courts for supposedly delaying government projects, President Duterte has raised the budget of the judiciary to P34.8 billion in the proposed 2018 national budget.

The budget allocation for the judiciary would be P2 billion higher next year, compared to the P32.8 billion allocated this year.

According to the President’s budget message, the proposed amount will cover P31.4 billion for the operations of the Supreme Court, including the P2.5 billion for the lower courts.

The President also endorsed the transfer of the Supreme Court to a new location in Bonifacio Global City by allocating P1.5 billion for the construction of the court complex.

The judiciary budget also includes the hiring of court decongestion officers (P240 million), and the construction of halls of justice in cities such as Laoag, Mandate and Cebu under the Justice Infrastructure program (P897 million).

The President earlier appealed to the judiciary to stop delaying government projects with the indiscriminate issuance of temporary restraining orders. Duterte said such court orders have limited the government’s capacity to complete the projects intended to benefit the public.

In his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President asked the High Court to reconsider the TRO issued against the contraceptive implants. Such order, Duterte said, has prevented the government from fully implementing the reproductive health law.

To pursue swift and fair administration of justice, the President has also proposed a P18.5 billion allocation for the Department of Justice next year. This is a 11.4 percent increase from this year’s budget of P16.6 billion.

The DOJ budget will bankroll legal services (P178 million); investigation services of the National Bureau of Investigation (P1.5 billion); and free legal assistance services of the Public Attorney’s Office (P3.2 billion).

The government also plans to increase plantilla positions for public attorneys and prosecutions across the country to attain the public attorney-to-court ratio from 1:3 to 1:1, and the prosecutor-to-court ratio from 2:1 to 1:1 by 2022.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Genalyn Kabiling

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