SENATOR KIKO PANGILINAN CAUTIONS AGAINST JUDICIARY
BUDGET CUT; SAYS CORRUPTION CANNOT BE ADDRESSED
WITH A CRIPPLED JUDICIARY

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan today cautions the Executive against slashing the budget of the Judiciary, saying the government will have a hard time fulfilling its promise to curb corruption with a financially crippled justice system.

Pangilinan is the author of RA 9227 which provides increase in budgetary support for the Judiciary.

"We have worked hard to get the Judiciary budget to a modest one percent of the national budget. If we are to fulfill our vision of a modernized justice system, we have to at the very least not go below that one percent."

Pangilinan adds that the legislated increase in judicial budgetary support was meant to help reduce the average case life by creating more courts and by filling up vacancies in the Judiciary.

"We need to create more courts to provide the public swift dispensation of justice. Research shows that the ideal ratio should be one judge for every 10,000 people. But in our current situation, we only have one judge for every 50,000 people."

"The Judiciary is a co-equal branch of the government. We need to appropriate much needed funds to this branch of government if we are to fulfill our goal of having a modernized judiciary. If the nation is likened to a computer, the Judicial system is the hard drive, and its natural resources, its educated workforce, and economic investments are its software. No amount of the latest software made available will matter if the hard drive is not effectively in place."