MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / July 21, 2014) – Members of the Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines on Monday donned black and red shirts and ribbons to protest President Benigno Aquino’s tirades against the Supreme Court which declared the government’s controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional.
Maurino Aguilar, Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines Vice President, said Aquino’s recent tirades and his threat to impound the Judiciary Development Fund is also an assault against the employees of the Judiciary.
“To take away the JDF is to take away the legitimate benefits from the more than 30,000 employees of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and the trial courts. We beg to disagree with President Aquino, JDF is not the same as the President’s Disbursement Acceleration Program. Eighty percent of the JDF is allotted for the employees’ benefits.”
“Just like the rest of the government employees, court employees augment their meager pay with these benefits. Kinuha na nga nila ang DAP mula sa pondo ng aming benepisyo at pensyon, ngayon naman pati ang mumong benepisyo na nakukuha namin sa JDF ay kukunin pa nila,” Aguilar said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said the government has already failed miserably to alleviate the economic condition of the government employees and now it is apparent that the employees shall not be spared from Aquino’s vindictive actions against the High Court which earlier ruled against the constitutionality of the DAP.
“The President and his henchmen responsible for DAP should instead account for DAP. The people, including the government employees, deserve to know how the P177 billion was spent, what projects and who benefited from the projects, lay down the supporting documents and present the actual result of the expenditures”, Aguilar said.
Amiel De Vera, President of the Association of Court of Appeals Employees, also announced that aside from the Black Monday Protest, court employees shall also wear red shirts, ribbons and arm bands and “support the petition for certiorari and mandamus with a prayer for a Temporary Restraining Order” they will file against the oppressive taxes imposed on their benefits.
“Hinu-holDAP kami ng administrasyong ito not just once but three times over. Before we can even get hold of our salaries, taxes were already deducted. Our benefits are also taxed. Not yet contented with the taxes they withheld, now they are targeting the benefits,” he said in the same statement.
Aquino earlier told citizens to wear yellow short or yellow ribbon to show their support to his administration, but the appeal was largely ignored by Filipinos, although his loyal supporters launched a “yellow” campaign in an effort to gather support.
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