House bill seeks to abolish JDF

he lead prosecutor in the 2012 impeachment trial of former chief ustice Renato Corona has filed a bill that see s to abolish the udiciary e elop ment und , which some lawma ers ha e described as the upreme Court s por barrel.

loilo Rep. iel upas r., a iberal Party mate of President uino and chairman of the ouse committee on ustice, in troduced ill amid the apparent collision between the C and Ma laca ang o er the contro ersial isbursement c celeration Program P .

upas said the was a creation of the late Presi dent erdinand Marcos through Presidential e cree 1 . he fund was created “at a time when

democratic institutions were not in place and when both executive and legislative powers were vested in the executive.”

He noted that under the Marcos decree, the exclusive power to authorize the use of the JDF rests with the chief justice.

“In that sense alone, the JDF is considered a discretionary fund as the same is controlled and administered by just one person,” Tupas told reporters yesterday.

“In line with the current administration’s reforms in the area of public financial management, there is an urgent need to put in place a more transparent accounting and reporting of revenues collected by the judiciary to strengthen public accountability,” he added.

Tupas also accused the SC of expanding the JDF through “judicial legislation.”

“They expanded the sources of the fund by including forfeited cash bonds, rentals and interest income on deposits, among other incomes, which are not included in PD 1949,” he said.

His bill would repeal the JDF decree and abolish the fund. It would replace it with the Judiciary Support Fund (JSF).

Tupas explained that unlike the JDF, which does not go through the national treasury and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), his bill requires that JSF collections be turned over to the treasury.

“They will only be released once the SC submits a detailed budget proposal to the DBM on the use of the collections,” he said.

The bill would allot 70 percent of the collections to allowances for judiciary personnel, 15 percent for equipment and facilities, and 15 percent for the repair of court buildings.

Under PD 1949, 80 percent of the JDF goes to allowances and 20 percent to facilities.

The Tupas bill is the second measure filed on the JDF.

Earlier, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas introduced Bill 4690, which seeks to reform the use of the SC fund, transfer its administration to the Bureau of Treasury and impose reportorial and accounting requirements.

A recent Commission on Audit report shows that Supreme Court justices earned from P3.5 million to P5.7 million in 2013. The bulk of their gross earnings came from allowances. They have a basic annual pay of P1.1 million.

Justices receive allowances from the SC and from the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which is the SC itself. Six of them get additional allowances from the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, in which they sit as members.