It’s red and black for court workers

Employees of the judiciary wear red shirts and black pants in protest against the Aquino administration’s “bullying” of the Supreme Court. PHOTO BY TETCH TORRES-TUPAS/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Red and black were the colors displayed by judiciary workers nationwide to protest President Aquino’s attacks on the Supreme Court and plans by his congressional allies to impound the Judicial Development Fund (JDF).

Members of the Supreme Court Employees Association (Scea), Association of Court of Appeals Employees (Acae) and the Judiciary Association of the Philippines (Judea)—wearing black-and-red shirts, arm bands and ribbons—showed up during the flag ceremony at the Supreme Court main building on Padre Faura Street in Manila at around 8 a.m.

There were no placards or chanting of slogans since the association leaders earlier announced that the gathering would be a “silent protest.”

The red-and-black activity recalled the rebellious students’ song “Red and Black” in the musical “Les Misérables.”

In Laoag City, court employees at the Marcos Hall of Justice also went to work wearing black shirts pinned with red ribbons. The employees said they planned to wear the protest colors again on July 28.

In Manila, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Arturo Brion, Mariano del Castillo, Martin Villamara, Jose Perez, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen, and Philippine Judicial Academy Chancellor and retired Justice Adolfo Azcuna attended the flag ceremony in front of the statue of the country’s first chief justice, Cayetano Arellano.

Sereno was clad in a gray business attire; Bernabe and Azcuna wore black jackets; Brion wore a light brown suit; and the other justices wore white barongs.

The justices declined to be interviewed and went back to the building after the ceremony.

At a press conference held later, the court unions’ leaders expressed indignation at Aquino’s speech last week in which he expressed his disagreement with the high tribunal’s decision to declare the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional. He also hinted at going after the justices.

Attack on independence

For the union leaders, the threats against the justices, together with plans by Congress to withhold the JDF, constituted an attack on judicial independence.

“This is rape of the blindfolded woman. It’s a good thing she has a sword that she’s fighting with. Stop the rape!” said Scea president Jojo Guerrero.

Guerrero called on the President to respect the high court’s ruling as well as the constitutional separation of powers.

“Just follow the law, brother. You’re sitting [in Malacañang] because of the Constitution,” he added.

Despite Aquino’s brazen attacks on the Supreme Court, Malacañang on Monday rejected the idea that he was trying to turn the public against the magistrates following their decision to declare DAP unconstitutional.

“We have no intention of doing so,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing, a week after the President delivered two scathing speeches threatening a “collision” with the judiciary.

No blackmail

Lacierda dismissed suggestions that the executive branch was trying to “blackmail” the judiciary by raising the justices’ own cross-border transfer of savings, a practice they also found unconstitutional, in its motion for reconsideration.

“That decision was made by the legal team to also inform the Supreme Court that this thing happened before you made the decision,” he said. “It merely illustrates something which both branches are aware of.”

Reminder

In the motion, the Office of the Solicitor General reminded the Supreme Court that in July 2012, the justices set aside P1.865 billion of their savings for the Department of Justice’s Manila Hall of Justice project.

The following year, the high court also purportedly sought P100 million from the Department of Budget and Management to build the Malabon Hall of Justice.

Lacierda said such information included in the motion was not meant as an “indictment” of the Supreme Court. “It was just a matter-of-fact statement,” he said.

He said it would also be “for the Supreme Court to answer” whether its own cross-border practice had been done “in good faith.”

‘Vindictive’

Judea vice president Maurino Aguilar said it was “apparent” that judiciary employees were not spared from Aquino’s “vindictive actions” following the DAP decision.

He and other leaders said 80 percent of the JDF went to judiciary employees in the form of benefits that translate to P1,800 to P2,000 per employee. A certain percentage of the court fund is spent on the rehabilitation of court houses.

30,000 employees

“To take away the JDF is to take away the legitimate benefits from the more than 30,000 employees of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and the trial courts,” Aguilar said.

He said the court employees begged to disagree with the President. “JDF is not the same as the President’s Disbursement Acceleration Program.”

Aguilar said a postaudit could be conducted on the JDF. “[B]ut do not starve us. The judiciary is angry because you’re making a fool out of us.”

The Aquino administration, he said, should be put to task for failing to alleviate the economic condition of government employees.

“The President and his henchmen responsible for the DAP should instead account for the DAP. The people, including the government employees, deserve to know how the P177 billion was spent, what projects and who benefited from the projects. Lay down the supporting documents and present the actual result of the expenditures,” he said.

Stop tax

Another issue the court employees raised was the recent Bureau of Internal Revenue directive to tax judiciary employees’ benefits. Hence, some employees’ shirts were printed with the words “tax free” to express the opposition.

Acae president Amiel de Vera said that the judiciary workers union would join the umbrella group Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) in filing a case to stop the imposition of the tax.

“Before we can even get hold of our salaries, taxes were already deducted. Our [regular] benefits are also taxed. Not yet contented with the taxes they withheld, now they are targeting the [JDF] benefits,” he said.

In a statement, Judea said: “We declare the tax on our benefits unjust and another proof of the height of hypocrisy of the Aquino administration. The Aquino presidency is taxing as much from salaried workers and employees while allowing tax holidays to big business, and worst, impounding our taxes to form part of the declared unconstitutional DAP.”

The workers’ groups said it would again hold a silent protest next Monday, the day when the President delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Awful timing

In Laoag, lawyer Zaldy de la Cruz, a court employee, said the judiciary’s work force wanted to send the message that they should not be the targets of Aquino’s displeasure over the Supreme Court ruling on the DAP.

“[The executive] should not bother the judiciary. The timing and the move of Congress to scrap our allowance is just awful,” De la Cruz said, a reference to House Bill No. 4738 that intends to scrap the JDF.

The measure was filed shortly after the President criticized the court’s DAP ruling.

Executive Judge Philip Gabriel Salvador said wearing black showed support for the Supreme Court. “We have to make a stand against insinuations that the SC is vindictive. The truth is, the decision is based on laws and nothing else,” Salvador said.

Like their colleagues in Manila, the court employees in Laoag are condemning a BIR circular to tax employees’ benefits, including those from the JDF.–With reports from Leilanie Adriano and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Christian V. Esguerra in Manila

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