In a last-ditch effort, close to 200 lawyers and other personnel from the Public Attorney’s Office are appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to veto an insertion in the 2020 General Appropriations Act slashing the P19.5-million budget for its Forensic Laboratory Division.
In a nine-page letter, the PAO lawyers “pleaded to President Duterte to use his veto powers and VETO the GAA for 2020 with regard to the special provision inserted by the congressional minority, led by (Albay) Rep. Edcel Lagman and (Iloilo) Rep. Janette Garin on the limitation imposed on PAO’s use of maintenance and other operating expenses. This provision prohibits PAO from using its MOOE budget in the operation of the Forensic Laboratory Division.”
Duterte is set to sign the 2020 GAA’s P4.1-trillion national budget this Monday.
“We, the lawyers and staff of the PAO nationwide, join this extremely urgent request,” the letter read.
The PAO appealed to Duterte to restore the P19.5-million budget cut in the agency budget for year 2020 when he signs the 2020 General Appropriations measure into law.
The budget cut of P19.5 million in PAO’s budget was initiated by the so-called “Yellow lawmakers” led by opposition Senator Franklin Drilon. The amount is intended for the agency’s budget for its Forensic Laboratory and Equipment, particularly for the poor litigants in its Dengvaxia crusade and other cases.
The signatories of the letter slammed Lagman and Garin, saying the “inserted” provision was a violation of the Constitution and existing laws, such as Republic Act 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act, as well as the Dec. 12, 2017 Department of Justice memorandum order directing PAO “to assist possible Dengvaxia deaths, injuries and illnesses.”
PAO maintained the DOJ memo was “still standing and had not been revoked.”
It questioned its budget cut, saying it was also a “violation of the equal protection clause of the 1987 Constitution (Article 3 Section 1).”
“Why only the PAO Forensic Laboratory, why not the Commission on Human Rights forensic, too? Why discriminate the PAO clients, which have conflicts with the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation or CHR [itself]?” PAO said. With Rey E. Requejo