Judiciary is poor (as in, begging...)

see:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100914-292107/Justices-planning-mass-leaves

re:
JUDICIAL REVOLT? Justices planning mass leaves
By Nikko Dizon, Christine O. Avendaño, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:54:00 09/14/2010


As the media rift between the judicial and executive branches of the Philippine government threatens to widen with some judges considering going on a mass leave in protest over Malacañang’s decision to slash in half the budget for court operations next year, the following sorry state of the financial condition of the judiciary unravels itself:


1. In 2007, the judiciary earned P2.18 billion from filing fees, of which P1.14 billion went to a special allowance under Republic Act No. 9227 enacted in 2003 and another P1.04 billion to the judiciary development fund under Presidential Decree No. 1949.

2. Justices and judges still had not received the 100 percent increase in salaries and allowances provided under RA 9227.

3. A first level municipal judge barely received P25,000 for his monthly salary, while a Supreme Court associate justice received a monthly salary of some P40,000.

4. There were 2,200 judges all over the country with more than 600,000 cases pending nationwide. The Supreme Court, which has 15 justices, has 6,000 cases pending.

5. The ideal ratio is one judge for every 10,000 population but currently, only one judge is servicing 50, 000 constituents.

6. Depending too much on the financial assistance of local governments such as renovating the court rooms could compromise the judiciary’s independence.

7. The National Prosecutors League of the Philippines (NPLP) said that the 2,000 prosecutors would appeal to lawmakers to fund the National Prosecution Service Act.
The law, enacted last year, makes the salaries of prosecutors at par with those of judges. The minimum P195 million needed to fund the partial implementation of the law was part of the P7.5 billion slashed by Malacañang from the Department of Justice’s proposed P15.2-billion 2011 budget.