DOJ Chief Won’t Issue Order Barring Fiscal’s from Getting Cash Aid from LGUs

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima will not be issuing any order prohibiting the grant of cash aid to public prosecutors by local government units (LGUs).

This was contained in a letter Prosecutor General Claro Arellano sent to Cebu City Prosecutor Aileen Gutierrez, president of the Prosecutors League of the Philippines.

“Honorable Secretary has agreed and has committed that she will not be issuing any directive prohibiting the grant of financial assistance to prosecution offices by local government units,” Arellano said in his letter.

Arellano said after hearing de Lima’s speech about prohibiting prosecutors from receiving financial assistance during the recent 15th Integrated Bar of the Philippines National Convention in Cebu City, he immediately requested for a meeting with her.

He said he sought for reconsideration on the pronouncement.

During their meeting, Arellano said that de Lima said that she “merely expressed her long-term vision for the National Prosecution Service to be financially independent and self-sustaining.”

De Lima, one of the speakers during the IBP convention, said that prosecutors and their staff will be prohibited from receiving allowances to “restore public trust and confidence” in the justice system.

But Prosecutor Maria Luisa Ratilla, officer in charge of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office, said that she was saddened by de Lima’s statement since the allowances they received from the LGUs are helping them.

She said that the allowances of P10,000 per month they received from the Cebu City government were not from politicians, but from the people’s taxes.

Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said that the allowances they received from the provincial government also helped them for their transportation since their office covers the entire province of Cebu. (PNA) CTB/EB/PJN