While the Office of Administration of the Courts (OAT by its spanish initials) and the Supreme Court have kept a strange silence regarding the demands made by the Fiscal Control Board (JCF by its spanish initials) for the Fiscal Plan of the Rosselló Administration, the entity which represents the judges asked the Governor and the JCF not to reduce their pensions.

Through a letter, the Association of the Judiciary held that any change to the pension system of judges should be prospective and should not apply to judges who already enjoy their pensions or those who currently serve and accumulate for retirement.

The missive, signed by the president of the Association, Judge Eric R. Ronda del Toro, arrived at a time when the OAT has declined requests from NotiCel to comment on the measures promoted by the JCF in all branches of government, especially the cuts and reductions of 50% in contracting. The Supreme Court has also not made expressions that allude to this.

The letter of the Association is a reiteration of the position the judiciary has maintained at all times: that their pensions should not be affected by any reform. In fact, the proposed reform of judges’ pensions promoted by the García Padilla administration was diminished in its effect when the Supreme Court, through a unanimous decision, changed the way in which it would apply to them.

Although the Fiscal Plan of the Rosselló Administration, which has been amended in ways that La Fortaleza has not yet disclosed, does not specifically mention pensions of judges, it does propose that management of the retirement crisis include a scale of staged cuts for Pensions of more than $2,000 per month.

‘Our task of imparting justice is an essential component of our democratic life system, which has to be carried out with total judicial independence and can not be attacked by concerns about our retirement benefits when we cease our judicial functions,’ says Letter of the Association that groups 200 judges.

‘Regardless of the doctrines that have been evaluated to justify a proposal to modify the pensions of judges, we understand that a correct analysis of the importance of Judicial Independence and the serious impairment to democracy implies that any proposal to modify Judges’ pensions have only prospective application to new judges entering the system and can not be applied to serving judges or retired judges,’ adds the letter to the Governor with a copy to JCF president, José Carrión III.

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