Congress allots P715M for SC automation projects

The Supreme Court building in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—After trying to rein in its coequal branch just months earlier, the Aquino administration may well be warming up to the judiciary, with Congress committing some P715 million in additional funding for court automation projects next year, an official of the Supreme Court bared on Wednesday.

Raul Villanueva, deputy court administrator at the Supreme Court, said Congress had agreed to provide additional funding to support the initial phase of critical judiciary reform programs next year, including the high court’s network security and nationwide connectivity project and the procurement of additional computers and other equipment for its ongoing e-court program.

He said members of Congress made this commitment after President Aquino ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to look into budget gaps in the sector.

During an anticorruption conference Tuesday, Mr. Aquino promised to provide budgetary support for the judiciary, enlisting the support as well of leaders of both chambers of Congress.

Heeding President Aquino’s orders, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad included a fresh P715.3-million allocation for the judiciary in the revised supplemental budget submitted to Congress.

Such move was seen as a turnaround for the President, who earlier this year warned the high court of judicial overreach after it nullified his economic stimulus program, the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), for violating the Constitution.

But Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday said the request for additional budget had nothing to do with the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on Malacañang’s appeal that it reconsider its ruling against the DAP.

“It’s not good to look at it that way… [because] the Supreme Court was really asking for funds, additional funds,” he told reporters.