Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has changed her mind.
After she was widely criticized by prosecutors for annoncing that they should stop receiving allowances from local government units, De Lima took a step back.
In a letter, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said he had a discussion with De Lima to echo the prosecutors’ plea to let them continue receiving monthly stipends from LGUs.
“The 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,” he wrote.
Last March, De Lima announced during the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ National Convention in Cebu City that she would “strictly” prohibit state lawyers from receiving allowances from LGUs. Arellano immediately asked for a meeting with De Lima to seek reconsideration.
Arellano’s letter, addressed to Prosecutor Aileen Gutierrez, president of the Prosecutors’ League of the Philippines, was distributed to different prosecution offices in the country.
De Lim is due to resign from her post to prepare for the 2016 election where she will run for a seat in the Senate.
In her speech at the IBP convention, De Lima said by not receiving allowances from LGUs, prosecutors would not get entangled with politicians, thus, preserving their integrity.
De Lima said she wanted to ensure that prosecutors do not feel beholden to local politicians.
Among those who wanted her to reconsider was Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane, who was receiving at least P34,000 from four LGUs in Cebu.
Gubalane said the allowances from LGUs are “legal” and allowed under the Local Government Code of the Philippines, city ordinances, and Republic Act No. 10071, or the Prosecution Service Act of 2010.
Prosecutors in Cebu City receive an allowance of P10,000 each from the Cebu city government every month. In past years, they had been getting P18,000, but the amount was reduced due to budget constraints.
Each of the provincial prosecutors receives P10,000 from the Capitol.
Only Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles of the CA Cebu Station has declined to receive any stipend, saying he wants to maintain independence “in reality and public perception.”