By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Court employees across Negros Occidental yesterday wore black clothing in silent protest of what they called “political pressure” on the judiciary.
They believe the judiciary was being impaired, what with moves to abolish funding and allowances for court workers.
The Philippine Association of Court Employees–Negros Occidental chapter, in a statement, said the Supreme Court was being “subjected to unsound political accusations and attempts to undermine its fiscal autonomy.”
The SC has issued decisions nullifying several national legislative and executive programs on the ground of unconstitutionality, earning the ire of the said branches of government, the group said.
“In apparent retaliation, new measures like the abolition of the Judiciary Development Fund and the Special Allowance for Justices and Judges were being undertaken to attack and impair (the SC’s) stability, directly and implicitly persuading it to give in to unrelenting political demands,” it said.
The group said the judiciary “has to be freed from all forms and vestiges of political pressures couched on personal agenda.”
It said that “the rule of the law must be respected and that the sacrosanct role of the Philippine Constitution, from which all political rights and powers emanate, has to be upheld at all times.”
They “stand firm and one in support of the Supreme Court (SC) in its thrust of providing and maintaining a strong judicial system founded on the principles of efficiency, probity, and independence,” the group said.
Gerald John Joven, the group’s president, claimed that 80 percent of court employees in the province joined the silent protest./PN
