'Aquino raping Lady Justice'

MANILA, Philippines — Judiciary employees wore black and red at the flag-raising ceremony Monday in protest against President Aquino's perceived resistance from the Supreme Court.

"[President Aquino] is raping the lady in blindfold," the Judiciary Employees Association at the Supreme Court in Manila said, referring to the woman standing as symbol for morality and impartiality in the justice system.

Many employees at the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City also expressed dissent from Aquino's tirades against the high court when he questioned its decision scrapping the Disbursement Acceleration Fund (DAP) in a nationally televised speech on July 14.

They accused Aquino of "bullying" the co-equal branch of government to defend his administration's faulty savings transfer mechanism, a radio report said.

They also decried a bill filed at the House of Representatives seeking to abolish the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), which congressmen call the Supreme Court's pork barrel.

Judiciary staff said that they only receive about P2,000 each from the JDF, which is incomparable to the millions allocated per lawmaker under the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) and the DAP.

The Supreme Court declared PDAF, a lump sum congressional allocation, unconstitutional last year following reports of abuses and embezzlement of the funds.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno wore a gray suit, Associate Justice Estrella Perlas Bernabe had a black blazer on, while other magistrates wore white barongs. - with reports from Edu Punay