Tupas assures not to use JDF issue in Judiciary budget hearing

Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. (Screengrab from GMA News footage)

MANILA — The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on justice on Wednesday assured that the issue on the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) won’t be tackled during deliberations of judiciary’s proposed P19.499-billion budget for 2015.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, chairman of the House committee on justice, said the JDF concerns will be addressed during the resumption of his panel’s hearing on twin bills reforming the judiciary.

“I would prefer to discuss it in the justice committee with two pending bills on the JDF. Discussion would be more specific and exhaustive,” said Tupas in a chance interview.

Supreme Court (SC) Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is expected to shun the House budget hearing on Thursday for the proposed P606.6-billion budget of the Judiciary for 2015, and instead send several associate justices and other court officials.

Earlier, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, vice chairman of the House committee on justice, proposed that Sereno be invited in their next congressional hearing not as the chief magistrate of the SC, but as the sole administrator of JDF.

Umali pointed out that Sereno is the lone manager of Presidential Decree 1949 or the JDF which was created by then President Ferdinand Marcos on July 18, 1984.

Tupas agreed with the suggestion of Umali, reiterating that Sereno or her duly-authorized representatives should face them because “no one is above the law.”

The Iloilo solon filed HB No. 4738 to repeal PD 1949, noting that the existence of JDF for 30 years has been hounded by allegations of lack of transparency in the accounting and reporting of the funds as well as irregularities and abuse of discretion on the allocation and disbursement of such funds.

Under the bill, the JDF will be replaced by a Judiciary Support Fund (JSF), which shall only be released to the SC only after it submits an itemized special budget and shall be deposited with the National Treasury as Special Account in the General Fund.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, also vice chairman of the committee, filed House Bill 4690 to reform the JDF by promoting transparency and open this to regular full-auditing.

Farinas said HB 4690 aimed at reforming the JDF by ‎transferring the administration of fund from SC to the Bureau of Treasury to promote transparency and accountability.

The JDF shall come from the docket and other legal fees paid by party litigants where at least 80 percent of the funds shall be given to employees of the judiciary by way of cost of living allowances and not more than 20 percent of the JDF shall be used for office equipment and other facilities.

Tupas said he has sent a second invitation to Sereno or her representative to attend the next congressional hearing on two bills aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in the use of JDF.

Sereno earlier stressed in a three-page letter to Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. that the investigation does not promote good relationship between Congress and Judiciary citing separation of powers, adding the SC was asking for more time to address the invitation.