By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

IRKED by the administration’s recommendation to reduce the judicial branch’s fiscal year 2007 budget by nearly 40 percent, Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan accused Gov. Benigno R. Fitial of using “dictatorial means.”
But Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said although the governor respects the chief justice, the judicial branch “is not immune from the CNMI’s financial and economic realities.”
Demapan, in a two-page letter dated May 3, said if Fitial’s proposed budget cuts are enacted, “the commonwealth courts would cease to function.”
He added, “I don’t mean services would be reduced. I don’t mean we would operate slower. I mean the doors would be locked, the lights turned off, and nothing resembling a modern judicial system would be left in place.”
According to Demapan, “What good is a police force, ‘an essential service,’ if there is no court to try arrestees? What is the point of traveling the globe in search of ‘investors,’ if they have no courts to enforce contracts and property rights? Next time, please do me the courtesy of consulting me before you attempt to persuade the Legislature to cut the judiciary’s budget.”
This month, the governor submitted a revised 2007 fiscal year budget to the Legislature recommending 40 percent cuts due to the government’s declining revenue collection.
If the Legislature approves the proposal, the judicial branch’s original FY 2007 appropriations of more than $4.4 million would be reduced to $2.7 million.
The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court, the Superior Court, the administrative office and the Law Revision Commission. In all, it has 104 full-time employees.
Reyes, in an e-mail, said: “We respect the chief justice and look forward to engaging the Legislature on the budgets of the full range of government agencies and entities, including the judicial branch, which is not immune from the CNMI’s financial and economic realities.”
Demapan said the administration’s budget proposal does not promote cooperation among the government branches and “utilizes dictatorial means.”
He added, “Of course, when fiscal shortfalls necessitate budget reductions, you, as governor, have a responsibility to act. However, if you were interested in following the spirit of our Constitution, you would at the very least attempt to work with me to find a viable solution. Instead, you ignored my advice, went behind my back, and advised the Legislature to follow your ill-conceived budget amendments…. I realize you don’t view the judiciary as ‘essential.’ Please understand that I don’t view your opinion of the judiciary’s budgetary needs as ‘essential’ either.”