Noy blinks; Palace won’t impound SC hiring funds By Angie M. Rosales and Benjamin B. Pulta 10/07/2011

Noy blinks; Palace won’t impound SC hiring funds

By Angie M. Rosales and Benjamin B. Pulta 10/07/2011

Malacañang virtually backtracked from its plan to impound billions worth of budgetary allocations for unfilled positions in government in the Judiciary and constitutional bodies in the proposed 2012 national budget.

This Palace impounding of the hiring fees of these constitutional offices has been the bone of contention between the high court with other constitutional offices, and Malacañang, which insisted on controlling their hiring budgets, on claims of transparency, while the high court insisted on the unconstitutionality of the Palace’s control of the budget for hiring personnel, saying that the Constitution mandates fiscal autonomy for the judiciary.

But Malacañang apparently blinked when push came to shove, as the chairman of the Senate finance committee, Sen. Franklin Drilon, an ally of President Aquino who toes the presidential line, yesterday said that the Senate will stick to the provisions of the law granting such privilege to the Judiciary and other constitutional bodies on the disbursement of such which is based on the principle of so-called “fiscal autonomy.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111007hed1.html