By The Star Staff
Speaker of the House of Representatives Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez criticized the Supreme Court’s associate justices over the weekend for “legislating to approve a salary increase.”
“Yesterday, we received notification from the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico that its members dismissed the appeal filed by the House of Representatives to defend constitutional prerogatives and the doctrine of separation of powers for – allegedly – not having perfected the remedy within the jurisdictional term,” the House speaker said Saturday in a written statement. “We respectfully beg to differ. All parties were duly notified within the period established by our legal system and we proved this before the Court itself. The immediate effect of this ruling – without the signature of any of its rapporteurs – is that the Judicial Branch – particularly the justices who issued this ruling – have legislated for themselves privileges and benefits to the detriment of the very Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that they swore to defend, at a historical moment where the credibility of public institutions is precarious.”
The judicial branch itself “is not exempt from these questions in the face of the profound deficiencies in its operation that have caused the constant re-victimization of the victims of crime in the face of the wave of femicides that engulfs the country, and the unjustified loss of lives due to the incompetence of that system that today compensates itself with bonuses and privileges,” Hernández Montañez said.
“The call is for prudence,” he continued. “Our lawyers are preparing an appeal for reconsideration, based on law – for the High Judicial Forum to adjudicate this controversy on its merits. The House of Representatives will not give up on the defense of its constitutional prerogatives in the face of the excessive use of an inconsequential technicality to obtain a personal benefit to the detriment of the Legislative [branch]. We are confident that the Supreme Court will desist from this disastrous precedent.”