Be sensitive to the people’s needs – SC Employees

“This is plain and simple callousness.”

This is the reaction of Jose Dante Guerrero, President of the Supreme Court Employees Association, to a report of the House Committee on Accounts chaired by An Waray Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel that an additional P1M is needed to sustain the operations of the trial as it is widely expected that the trial will be stretched to May.

House expenses reached over P3.5M for the 34 days of the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice. Expenses for supplies accounted for P1.9M and food expenses totaled P1.565M.

Guerrero added, “This is taxpayer’s money going down the drain. Instead of giving attention to our people’s basic needs, our lawmakers are wasting time and resources in a sham trial.”

“Let us divide the P1.565M spent on food by 34 trial days, that would be more than P46,000 per trial day on food alone. The 1.9M for supplies translates to more than P55,880 per trial day.

“The request for an additional P1M is in bad taste considering the announcement that we shall be paying an additional 69.04 centavos per kilowatt hour in our May electric bill. This shall take effect in May, and as we all know, it is a tuition month for parents who have school-aged kids,” Guerrero noted.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE), through its National President Atty. Virginia Rafael, remains united and are all ready to defend Chief Justice Renato Corona saying “walang iwanan” even when worse comes to worst.

The association of lower court employees contends that the impeachment proceedings are borne out of “personal hatred.”