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THE
newly created Judiciary, Executive and Legislative
Advisory and Coordinating Council (Jelac) will
prioritize securing a bigger budget for the judiciary to
strengthen the judicial system in the country, its
members agreed on Tuesday.
President Arroyo, Senate President Manuel Villar,
Speaker Prospero Nograles and Chief Justice Reynato Puno
signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) creating the
Jelac in Malacañang, mandating the council to serve as a
venue for representatives of the three government
branches to pursue measures on matters affecting the
primacy of the rule of law, to identify problems and
issues and to draw and implement solutions.
“Our
drive toward development will grind to a halt without
the rule of law as its foundation. The Jelac’s mandate
is centered on the rule of law,” the President said in
her remarks during the signing ceremony.
Part of
the Jelac’s mandate, as provided under the MOA, is to
formulate solutions on the budget of the judiciary, its
infrastructure requirements, the creation of new
positions and filling of vacancies, its
career-development program, the compensation and
security of judicial officials, the security of tenure
of judicial personnel, and other related matters.
Puno
said in an interview with reporters after the first
Jelac meeting that the High Court had “inserted” the
portion of the Jelac’s mandate related to the judiciary.
He
admitted that he had initial reservations about the
participation of the judiciary in such a body, but this
was eased once it was made clear that the Jelac “shall
operate within the context and constraints of the
Constitution, meaning the doctrine of separation of
powers and doctrine of checks and balances.”
“So,
looking at all these parameters, the judiciary, in a
session en banc among the High Court, agreed to be a
member of this consultative agency,” he said.
Under
the MOA, the Executive “recognizes that the rule of law
is its bedrock of political stability and economic
progress,” and that “the promotion of the rule of law is
not a singular task of any one branch of government but
must be concerted efforts of all.”
“The
challenge can be addressed by the three branches of
government through continuous consultations in order to
find viable solutions without undermining the
independence of each branch, particularly the
Judiciary,” the MOA said.
Villar
said the Senate’s participation in the Jelac should be
taken in the same vein as its membership in the
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac)
in terms of cooperating with the Executive on matters of
national interest without necessarily surrendering its
independence.
“We
cannot always be at odds with one another. And this will
not infringe on the freedom of the Senate, which will
continue to be an independent body,” Villar said, adding
that future Senate probes on any controversy involving
the administration will still be pursued as this is part
of its duties.
Senate
Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, who was among the
witnesses to the signing of the MOA, said in another
interview that the Jelac is eyeing at least a 20-percent
increase in the total budget of the judiciary, or 1
percent of the national budget.
“It’s
supposed to be a co-equal branch but in our P1.2
trillion budget [for 2008], only 0.08 percent has been
allotted for the judiciary. So, in principle, we have
agreed to work on an increase of 20 percent so that 1
percent of the entire national budget will go to the
judiciary,” Pangilinan said.
He said
the Jelac created a subcommittee, which he chairs, that
will look into salary augmentations for all government
lawyers, including those under the Executive, which is
intended to address the growing vacancies in the
government prosecution service caused by low pay.
“Hopefully, within the year, discussions on the big
vacancy rate in our prosecution service would bear
results because this directly hampers the speedy
disposition of cases,” Pangilinan said. The next Jelac
meeting will be sometime before Congress adjourns in
June. |
