Judicial courts would continue to be housed on top of public markets and police stations should the House of Representatives approve the proposal to slash the budget for the judiciary to almost half.

In a public hearing, Supreme Court administrator Jose Midas Marquez complained that the P14.307 billion-budget proposed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the High Tribunal will affect the delivery of justice in the country.

“We have a workforce of 107 justices, 2,204 judges and more than 25,500 court personnel housed in around 700 halls of justice of varying state of dilapidation across the country," Marquez told lawmakers in a public hearing Monday morning.

“In the words of our former Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno, we simply cannot have a first world judiciary operating on a third world budget,” he told members of the House committee on appropriations.

Marquez explained that the Supreme Court alone would need P23.8 billion budget for 2011 including the P10.35 billion for personnel services, and P4.670 billion for its annual Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses, and P1.758 billion for capital outlay.