DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would defy Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s order against the local government units’ (LGUs) move giving allowance to government prosecutors.
“I will not adhere to her order,” Duterte said Wednesday during the 27th National Convention of Prosecutors at the SMX Convention Center, adding that the granting of allowances and other benefits is “provided for by law.”
De Lima had said last month, during the 15th Integrated Bar of the Philippines Convention in Cebu City, that she would issue a directive prohibiting all prosecutors and employees of prosecution services nationwide from receiving allowances and other forms of benefits from local governments.
De Lima said this was to ensure that the prosecutors would not feel beholden to local politicians.
But Duterte, in his keynote speech during the 27th national convention of Prosecutors League of the Philippines here, said De Lima was wrong since there are laws that allow LGUs to give allowances to prosecutors.
Regional State Prosecutor Antonio Arellano said the state prosecutors are “with her in her desire to really come up with higher standards of governance, but we are saying, considering the situation of the prosecution on the field in the regional, city and provincial offices, the resources from the national government is very inadequate.”
The Office of the City Prosecutor has an allocation of P359,937 in the proposed Supplemental Budget No. 2 of the city. City prosecutors receive a uniform allowance of P8,000 a month from the Davao City local government.
Arellano said three bases allow prosecutors to accept allowances from LGUs.
He cited the Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1275 which provides that LGUs would provide allowances to the prosecutors and employees.
Under Section 14 of PD 1275, “the salaries of provincial and city fiscals and their assistants shall be paid entirely out of national funds and included in the annual appropriations of the DOJ (Department of Justice). This is without prejudice to the grant of allowances to the above-mentioned fiscals by their respective local governments, in amounts not exceeding 25 percent of their basic salaries.”
Arellano also quoted the Local Government Code of 1991 which allows LGUs to provide assistance to the prosecutor offices in the country.
Republic Act No. 10071 (“Prosecution Service Act of 2010”), also allows local governments to grant allowances to prosecutors provided that the allowance does not go beyond 50 percent of their basic salary, he said. Inquirer Mindanao