Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC
Senate President Franklin Drilon on Monday found insulting Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez’s failure to appear for the second year in the Senate hearing of the judiciary’s budget.
“The Senate President is here. The chair of the finance committee is here. The chair of the justice committee is here. I think it’s a little impolite of your court administrator not to even honor us with his presence here,” Drilon told officials presenting the judiciary budget.
He was referring to Senators Loren Legarda and Aquilino Pimentel III, who chair the finance and justice committees, respectively.
Legarda, speaking to Drilon, said she was also wondering why Marquez was absent.
Drilon said he did not know Marquez’s reason for ignoring the Senate but added it was also a “little insulting” considering that Senior Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Jose Perez, as well as Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang were present there.
At the very least, he said Marquez should just sit and listen to the budget presentation and deliberations in the chamber.
“Just put that on the record,” Drilon said.
In the end, though, the finance committee approved the proposed P26.6-billion budget of the judiciary.
Drilon told reporters later that as a “matter of respect and courtesy” Marquez should have been there to defend his budget.
Asked whether he thought it was a deliberate move by Marquez, the Senate President said he did not know but it appeared that the court administrator had no other appointment.
“We hope in the coming years, they will be able to attend,” Drilon said.—Christine O. Avendaño