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08-August-2014 | 10:42 PM

National
House moves to scrap Judiciary Development Fund
By: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com
July 15, 2014 1:21 PM

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE - 1:41 p.m.) The overwhelmingly pro-administration House of
Representatives began moving Tuesday to abolish the Judiciary Development Fund, a day after
President Benigno Aquino IIIs scathing attack on the Supreme Courts decision on the
discredited Disbursement Acceleration Program.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., a member of the administration Liberal Party, filed House Bill
4738 seeking to repeal Presidential Decree No. 1949, which created the JDF, which
Malacanangs allies have derided as the judicial pork barrel.
Last week, Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Farinas also filed House Bill 4690, seeking
accountability in the use of the JDF.
The bill seeks to amend PD 1949 by "mandating transparency and accountability in the
administration" of the fund, whose management it proposed to transfer from the Supreme Court to
the Bureau of Treasury, with appropriate audit and reportorial requirements.
Administration lawmakers began setting their sights on the JDF after the high court dealt Aquino
his most devastating setback by declaring key provisions of the DAP unconstitutional in a 13-0
vote.
Despite the ruling, Aquino on Monday preempted primetime television to make a nationwide
address in which he continued to defend the discredited spending program and, even as he said the
government would file a motion for reconsideration, attacked the Supreme Courts ruling.
And, in what many saw as a threat against the tribunal, he said: My message to the Supreme
Court: We do not want two equal branches of government to go head to head, needing a third
branch to step in to intervene.
We find it difficult to understand your decision. You had done something similar in the past, and
you tried to do it again; there are even those of the opinion that what you attempted to commit was
far graver, he added.

He also asked the justices to review your decision, this time taking into consideration the points
I have raised tonight. The nation hopes for your careful deliberation and response. And I hope that
once youve examined the arguments I will submit, regarding the law and about our economy,
solidarity will ensue -- thus strengthening the entire governments capability to push for the
interests of the nation.
In his bills explanatory note, Tupas, who chairs the House justice committee, said: "The JDF
has been in existence for 30 years, and there have been allegations of lack of transparency in the
accounting and reporting of the funds as well as irregularities and abuse of discretion in the
allocation and disbursement of the same."
He noted that under PD 1949, the exclusive power and duty to approve and authorize
disbursements and expenditures of the JDF is vested on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
"In that sense alone, the JDF is considered discretionary funds as the same is administered by a
particular public official and disbursed for a public purpose," he said.
In its place, Tupas proposed the establishment of the Judiciary Support Fund, which would be
deposited with the National Treasury as a Special Account in the General Fund.
"Right now, the JDF goes directly into the depository bank of the SC, we want to repeal the law
because there's no proper accounting of the funds," he said.
"We will call it a support fund, because if you say it's development fund, it's for the general
public ... but JDF should not be development fund because it goes to the pockets only, for grocery,
gasoline allowance of individuals in the judiciary," Tupas added.
The Iloilo lawmaker claimed his bill was not meant to support Aquinos position on the DAP.
Asked if he saw the possibility of the executive and legislative pitted against the judiciary, Tupas
replied: "I want to assure the public that that would not happen."
"It's constitutional processes at work, the system of check and balances," he added.
Under the bill, the JSF would be utilized to augment the allowances of the members and personnel
of the judiciary and to finance acquisition, maintenance and repair of office equipment and
facilities, and for maintenance and repairs of Hall of Justice buildings.
Seventy percent of the JSF will be used for the payment of allowances of the members and
personnel of the judiciary; 15 percent for the acquisition, maintenance and repair of office
equipment and facilities; and 15 percent for the maintenance and repair of Hall of Justice
buildings.
The Commission on Audit, through the auditor of the Supreme Court, is mandated to audit

quarterly receipts, revenues, uses, disbursements and expenditures of the JSF and is tasked to
submit the report in writing to the chairman of the COA and SC Chief Justice, as well as to
Congress.
Under the current law, the JDF has been sourced from increases in legal fees since 1984, bar
examination fees; interest on deposits of its income; confiscated bail bonds; income from
publications of the Supreme Court Printing Press; and, rentals of facilities in Halls of Justice.
In a statement in August 2013, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said that from July 2012 to
July 2013, the JDF has reached P1 billion, of which P870 million was distributed to employees of
the judiciary nationwide.

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