By Perfecto T. Raymundo Jr.
MANILA, July 7 (PNA) — The Supreme Court (SC) released on Monday the latest report on the use of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) for the entire year 2013 and the first half of 2014.
The report was in response to the call of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for the SC to make a voluntary public disclosure of how the P1.77-billion JDF was spent.
The report showed that for the first six months of 2014, the “beginning balance” of the JDF was pegged at P1.96 billion.
From this amount, P584 million was released for the SC, the Court of Appeals (CA), the Sandiganbayan, the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) and the lower courts.
The “ending balance” or the amount left in the JDF at the end of March 2014 was recorded at P1.38 billion.
Aside from the JDF, the SC also released on Monday the report about the Special Allowance for the Judiciary Fund (SAJ) from 2012 until the first quarter of 2014 and the Budget Accountability Reports from 2012 until 2013.
The JDF is a special purpose fund created in 1984 under Presidential Decree No. 1949 for the benefit of the members and employees of the Judiciary so that the independence of the judicial branch of government will be preserved.
Under P.D. No. 1949, 80 percent of the JDF will be used for the cost-of-living allowances (COLAs) of the members of the Judiciary, while 20 percent of the same fund will be allotted for the acquisition of office equipment and facilities of the courts nationwide. (PNA)