House panel swiftly approves P38.7-B judiciary budget for 2020 

MANILA, Philippines — The House appropriations committee on Wednesday approved in about 25 minutes the P38.71-billion budget of the Judiciary branch for 2020.

The Judiciary branch includes the Supreme Court (SC), the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), Court of Appeals (CA), Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), Sandiganbayan, and lower courts.

During the proceedings, two congressmen motioned for the termination of the budget hearing: Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and  Misamis Occidental 2nd District Rep. Henry Oaminal.

During the budget hearing, SC Court Administrator Midas Marquez, who presented the Judiciary’s budget, said that its proposed budget for 2020 was actually P55.66 billion but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only allocated P38.71 billion.

When asked by Oaminal for the reason of the budget cut, DBM Director Amanella Arevalo, who handles the Judiciary’s budget, said that the agency took out the “Congressional initiative” and the recurring items in the Judiciary budget.

“As per policy of the DBM, in crafting the 2020 budget proposal, we normally take out the Congressional initiative plus the recurring iterms,” Arevallo said.

“So that’s the reason why the budget of the Judiciary has gone down,” she added.

However, she added that the original proposal of the Judiciary is still “subject to evaluation.”

In response, Marquez said that he hopes that the DBM will reconsider the Judiciary’s initial submitted proposal.

“I am hoping that after evaluation, they [DBM] will reconsider our initial submission that we be granted the increase that we need for Judiciary,” he said. /jpv

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