By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

CHIEF Justice Miguel S. Demapan, in his State of the Judiciary Address at the Legislature on Friday, urged the other branches of government to hold a “dialogue” with the judiciary before proposing and approving budget cuts.
“We at the judiciary understand our economic situation necessitates such cost-cutting measures, yet I ask you today to please bear in mind that we are fast approaching the threshold,” Demapan said.
“While the judiciary will continue to do all it can to reduce spending, there is a point beyond which we will not be able to function. I am unable to quote you a specific dollar amount representing this limit but I can assure you it is not far away,” he added.
Demapan said the current budget of the judiciary is $4,433,478 which, he added, “represents only 2.3 percent of the total amount budgeted for the entire government.”
He said there are areas where cuts are unwise as they will only lead to increased expenses in the future.
“What I do hope to impress upon you is the importance, indeed the necessity, of carefully considering the judiciary’s funding requests before making final budgetary decisions. Some of the services we provide are expendable, others are not. Some of our programs are amenable to cutbacks, others are not. Some cost-saving measures are realistic possibilities, others are not,” he said.
“When the judiciary submits its proposed budget to the Legislature, such limitations have been considered. When we have been asked to make reductions, those areas we choose to cut and those we choose to leave untouched have been selected for good reasons. Although the Legislature is responsible for passing appropriations bills, it remains in the judiciary’s purview as to what its needs and how best to allocate available funds…. We don’t ask for nor do we expect a blank check, but we do ask for and we do expect a meaningful dialogue.”
Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo said Demapan did a good job in explaining to the Legislature and the executive branch how important it is for the judiciary to have a budget that will allow it to perform its duties.
“The best part of the speech was the chief justice explaining the costs we have to bear…like appointing an attorney in criminal cases. Sometimes there are other appointments that need to be made and these are costly. We cannot really budget for that,” Govendo said in an interview on Friday.
Judges David A. Wiseman and Juan T. Lizama said the speech was well delivered and they support the chief justice’s objectives.