A HOUSE leader has asked Congress to enact a measure that allows the state to support surviving spouses and children of slain judges, justices and other officials of the judiciary.
Following the National Heroes’ Day message of President Rodrigo Duterte of looking after the welfare of the state’s partners in its war against drugs, Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu of Batangas City said the state should also address the serious challenges to the nation’s judicial system, particularly the daily risks that dispensers of justice face.
“Dispensing justice is as risky, in some cases fatally risky, as the search for justice itself by victims of injustice,” Abu, author of House Bill 2683, also known as “Support for the Surviving Spouse and Children of Slain Judiciary Officials Act.”
Abu lamented that the country, in recent years, has experienced judiciary officials being murdered, assassinated, and brutally killed by criminals in hopes of obstructing the ends of justice.
Abu cited a report by Amnesty International showing that from 1999 to 2012, some 22 judges have been murdered or assassinated in the Philippines, which translates to two judges being killed each year.
He also cited Section 2 of R.A. 9946, as amended, states that “when a justice or judge is killed intentionally while in service, the presumption is that the death is work-related.”
The House deputy speaker said the daily job-related risks that judiciary officials face should be counterbalanced by providing them with a grant that will encourage them to fully perform their duties and responsibilities. Hence, this bill seeks to support the judiciary by granting benefits to surviving heirs in case they are killed while dispensing justice.
“This proposed amendments to R.A. 910, as amended by R.A. 9946, as amended, will embolden our judges and justices, especially the young idealistic judges and justices, to dispense justice without fear knowing that the government has their back covered and will support them and their families, as they uphold the rule of law,” Abu said.
The measure provides that all pension benefits of retired members of the judiciary or their surviving spouse and children shall be automatically increased whenever there is an increase in the salary of the same position from which he/she retired or is granted benefits.
“If a surviving spouse and children of a killed Judge or Justice have not received the full lump sum due them within one (1) year from the death of the Judge or Justice, any lump sum still to be granted to the surviving spouse or surviving children of the killed Judge or Justice shall be computed based on the difference between the amounts already received and the ten (10) year lump sum based on current rates of salaries, benefits, allowances and other grants given to an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court,” Abu said in his bill.