The House Appropriations Committee swiftly approved on Wednesday the proposed budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman moved to terminate the deliberations without any interpellation and members will ask their questions during the plenary deliberations.
But ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro asked the DOJ for updates on the so-called Bloody Sunday and extrajudicial killings.
DOJ Undersecretary Brigido Dulay said 30 personnel from Philippine National Police are now facing murder related to the incidents.
For his part, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla vowed that the DOJ would continuously investigate the extrajudicial killings.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Elizaldy Co lauded Remulla for creating the Prosecution Integrity Board and the Case Decongestion Task Force and adopting the electronic inquest system.
Co also commended the DOJ for maintaining its law enforcement Tier 1 ranking in the US Human Trafficking Report these past seven years.
The DOJ reported to Congress that it has reduced its case backlog to 25.48 percent in 2021 from 57.4 percent in 2013 with a matching improved case disposition rate of 92.35 percent in 2021 from 78.30 percent in 2013. Its prosecution success rate climbed to 91.8 percent in 2021 from 68.3 percent in 2013.
For 2023, the total appropriations for the DOJ amounts to P28.2 billion, consisting of 94.7 percent (P26.7 billion) in new appropriations and 5.3 percent (P1.5 billion) in automatic appropriations.
The 2023 expenditure program of P28.2 billion of the DOJ is 5.7 percent or P1.5 billion higher than current year’s program of P26.7 billion.
Similar to previous years, the Office of the Secretary has the biggest share or P8.4 billion.
Of the DOJ agencies, the Bureau of Corrections has a proposed budget of P5.9 billion, the Public Attorney’s Office has P5.03 billion, and the NBI has P1.85 billion.