We are human rights victims ourselves, solon complains

House Committee on Justice chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali on Friday said the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had only itself to blame for the House of Representatives’ decision to cut the agency’s 2018 budget to P1,000.

Umali, a lawyer who chairs the House justice committee, said the CHR never said a word when the human rights of congressmen were violated.

“Actually we are victims ourselves,” he said, citing cases when the communist New People’s Army (NPA) extorted fees for permits to campaign in areas controlled by the insurgents.

“There’s no effort to protect the rights of the elected representatives of the people,” said Umali, who graduated from  Manuel L. Quezon University College of Law in 1987.

The 60-year-old lawmaker said the CHR should have also looked into human rights violations committed by others besides the police and the military.

Umali also scored the media for focusing on the CHR’s budget when the funding of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Energy Regulatory Commission also suffered similar fates.

“We hope that you are fair to everyone. We hope you can also show all aspects of what we do here at the House,” he said.