A plea for our judges

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

A plea for our judges
Sunday, 11 17, 2002

If a job description were to be written by the Judicial and Bar Council for aspirants to a judgeship, it would read something like this: Must be willing to preside in a courtroom where the equipment is a carbon paper-fed Underwood typewriter, the furniture old and decrepit, and the atmosphere muggy and stifling due to the crowded space and a general lack of decent amenities. Must be willing to work for a pittance, at not less than 24 hours a day. Must possess the equanimity to face false accusations of corruption, and the composure to endure virulent attacks in the media and from disgruntled litigants. Must have all the luck to survive a hail of gunfire during ambushes and other life-threatening situations. Must not be consumed by envy, self-pity and bitterness when he or she gets upstaged by a much more well-dressed, well-paid former student who has had a more successful career in the private practice of law.

At present, there are 2,282 judges and justices in the country who are actually experiencing such trials and tribulations.

Their starkly furnished salas hardly evoke the majesty of the law that they are supposed to administer. They support their families on a measly monthly salary. The glare of public opinion often casts on them a harsh, unkindly light which only becomes soft and compassionate when tragedy strikes – five of them were killed in the line of duty in the past 12 months and the perpetrators have not been caught up to now. An incalculable mess befalls the lives of those dear to them that they leave behind, for the crimes that put an abrupt end to their service to the nation. Their compañeros in private practice, if not being openly derisive about the miserable lot of judges, must be shaking their heads in compassion.

Compassion was not what a full force of judges led by Judge Marino de la Cruz, president of the Philippine Judges’ Association, were asking when they visited the Senate last Wednesday. They came to press the passage of the bill that shall virtually do justice to them – at least, in terms of compensation. Compared to a greenhorn lawyer in a Makati-based law firm – who receives P25,000 per month, times 16 months, on top of performance bonus, transportation allowance, referral fee, car plan and other perks – a municipal judge gets a measly P22,521 per month, as fixed by law. It is about time someone took a second hard look at it to bring it in assonance with present-day cost of living. Certainly, a judge deserves more.

Senate Bill 2177, principally authored by Sen. Ed Angara, proposes to grant judges and the 30,000-strong court personnel, a special allowance, not chargeable against the Judiciary Development Fund, which will be tax-exempt, and which shall count for purposes of retirement. A municipal judge in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, for instance, with a current monthly salary of P22,251 will be getting a special allowance of P22,251, or 100 percent of his monthly salary. Since the current salary plus allowances of a municipal judge is now P34,671 a month, the Angara formula will bring the will bring the total compensation of this judge to P57,192 a month. A regional trial court judge in Pasay City, who currently receives a total monthly compensation of P53,166 on a basic salary of P25,333, will receive a total monthly compensation of P78,499 under the Angara formula. Associate justices of the Supreme Court now get a basic pay of P40,425 and an allowance of P34,866, or a monthly compensation of P75,291. Under the Angara formula, they will have a monthly compensation of P115,716. An increase in their compensation, and a generous retirement scheme which is also in the works, would go a long way in attracting the good and the bright lawyers to the judiciary.

This measures needs only about a billion per year to implement For the year 2002, the judiciary was given a paltry budget of P7.314 billion, or just 0.93 percent of the total national budget of P780 million. The budgetary proposal of P7.651 billion for fiscal year 2003 has even been reduced. Our lawmakers need to think twice about being tightwads to our judges.

At the present rates, there are few takers, all because of the measly salary and the woes of having to confront various self-styled powers-that-be that could pose a threat to life and limb: the dukes of the drug trade, the kings of kidnappings, the petty practitioners of crooked policies

Our judges are not only understaffed, underpaid and under constant risk to their life and limb; they are also overworked. A typical judge has a load of 1,200 cases on the average – already an impossibility to manage even if that judge were to hear cases 24 hours a day – and it comes as a big surprise that some have caseloads of 4,000! If all the vacancies in the judiciary were to be filled, the caseloads would certainly even out to more manageable levels.

Perhaps – just perhaps – many are just waiting to be enticed to join the noble ranks of our honorable judges by the passage of the Angara measure and a little more caring from our lawmakers who preside over the purse.


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