SC chief to judges: You’ll be better off

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. AP

BACOLOD CITY—Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on Thursday assured the country’s 2,000 judges that there would be no diminution of their salaries and benefits.

Sereno said that the P30,000 monthly special allowance for judges  would remain part of their compensation and that she had signed documents for its release on Wednesday.

The Chief Justice said she got the commitment of the national government that there would be no diminution of the judges’ salaries and allowances.

Her announcement was met with loud applause from the country’s judges gathered at the Philippine Judges Association midterm convention at the L’Fisher Hotel here.

Sereno assured the judges that, as Chief Justice for the next 18 years, she would continue to fight for their material welfare.

She said she had informed the executive department that the last thing the country needed was a demoralized judiciary.

“If they want to see the continuation of the heroism of the judges, then they must recognize their needs and space under the sun,” Sereno said.

She said there was no need for negotiations or rallies or a walkout.

The judges could now focus on reducing their backlog, saying there is a backlog of at least 600,000 cases in courts nationwide.

Performance targets would be set to drastically reduce backlogs, she added.

“If we chose the right strategies and methods, we will succeed,” Sereno said.

“There will be no surprises. There will be predictability in the way the judiciary is run. I wish to bring stability in your professional life,” she said.

According to Sereno, the country was in for a surprise because the judiciary would be presenting a template for modernization, efficiency and good governance.

Aside from reducing the judge’s workload through better systems and enhancing their information technology tools, she said, each judge would be given coterminous legal assistants.

This would mean the hiring of 2,000 more court personnel, she said.

She also assured the judges that promotion would be on a merit-based system.

Administrative cases against judges would also proceed without delay, she also said.