No sympathy for SC

You wrote (November 22 issue) that Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno is complaining about the small budget allocated for the judiciary that it is not even enough to construct a Hall of Justice.

Please be informed that it is not the Supreme Court that constructs Halls of Justice but the President through the Department of Justice.

Nothing is mentioned about the exorbitant fees, not limited to filing fees, that the Supreme Court demands and collects.

You file a case for violation of BP 22 you pay. You ask for the dismissal you pay. The Court of Appeals charges mediation fee but in no case has it held any mediation conference. Such payment is made for no service rendered.

There has never been any accounting or public disclosure of the monies collected by the Supreme Court since it imposed the increased fees except that it sends from time payments to the judges by ATM and not the regular channel of payments to hide such payments from the judicial employees.

There are even judges not worth their salaries as they only hold half-day work for they only attend to trials in the morning and disappear thereafter. Others go home to Iloilo every Friday afternoon or even in the morning.

Lastly, the Supreme Court Justices even refuse to submit their Statement of Assets and Liabilities exempting themselves from the requirement of law.

Should we sympathize with the Supreme Court?

Yours truly,

(SGD.) ERNESTO TANGAN

We did not bother to do our usual check on the sender who sounds very much like a lawyer and chose to identify himself as Ernesto “Tangan” (did he spell that right?), for obvious reasons. But we are publishing it since he seems to have some valid points. – THE EDITORS

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