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Word war breaks out between Corona, Palace13-Oct-11, 1:43 PM | Chichi Conde, InterAksyon.com







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MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday slammed the administration for slashing the judiciary’s budget next year but Malacanang immediately fired back, accusing him of using the appropriation issue to sidestep the controversy surrounding the Supreme Court’s recall of a supposedly final ruling to reinstate more than 1,400 flight attendants of Philippine Airlines.

At the national convention and election of officers of the Philippine Judges Association in Makati City on Thursday, Corona said the judiciary would not take the budget cut sitting down.

"Never before has the entire judiciary, not even during martial law, been subjected to lack of respect," he said. "I say to them here and now: enough is enough."

"I mince no words and I speak of nothing else but the insidious attempts to undermine, destroying even the independence of the judiciary, for us to beg for funds guaranteed by the Constitution," he added.

The judiciary proposed a P20 billion budget for 2012, but the Department of Budget and Management slashed this to P15 billion. Aside from this, the DBM also intends to impound P2 billion until unfilled career positions in the judiciary are filled up.

This will leave the judiciary’s proposed 2012 budget a little over P13 billion, less than this year’s budget of more than P14 billion.

Employees of the judiciary say this violates a Constitutional provision that “appropriations for the judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year.”

However, Malacanang spokesman Edwin Lacierda said “the slash on their budget is not an issue against the judiciary. It is not an attack against the judiciary. Chief Justice Corona should not confuse the budget cut as an attack on him or on the Supreme Court.”

“I think he (Corona) is trying to sidestep the issue (of the) Fasap case,” he added, referring to the Flight Attendants Association of the Philippines, which sued PAL over the retrenchments in 1998.

The Supreme Court’s Second Division handed down the decision to reinstate the flight attendants but the tribunal en banc recalled it on October 4 after PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza wrote a letter pointing out that the ruling should have been handled by the Special Third Division.

The move brought down a storm of criticism on the high court from several quarters, including senators, and prompted a suggestion in the House of Representatives to impeach the justices.

Corona had earlier shot back at the court’s critics, telling them: "Bago niyo tirahin ang SC, pag-aralan niyo muna ang kaso ... kung ano-ano tinitira niyo, di niyo naman maintindihan ang kaso (Before you criticize the SC, study the case first … you have been hurling criticisms but you don’t even understand the case)."

Lacierda said the high court justices had brought it “upon themselves if there are attacks on their credibility” because of the recalling of the decision on the Fasap case.

He said the criticism and even a possible impeachment case against the justices are part of democratic space and Corona should “take it as it is.”