MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang is reported to be considering election lawyer Leila de Lima as the replacement of outgoing chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Purificacion Quisumbing, the Philippine Daily Inquirer learned Wednesday.

Quisumbing retired on May 5. Two sources, both requesting anonymity pending Malacañang’s official announcement, claimed De Lima had already been informed of the plan.

De Lima was a lawyer for opposition senatorial candidates Alan Peter Cayetano and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III in last year’s hotly contested midterm elections.

While Cayetano won a Senate seat, successfully hurdling the inconvenience brought by a namesake fielded by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Movement, KBL), Pimentel still has an ongoing electoral protest pending at the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

De Lima, however, is relatively unknown in the human rights circle.

Ruth Cervantes, public information officer of the human rights group Karapatan, told the Inquirer she would have to ask around about De Lima, when asked about the buzz about the lawyer’s reported appointment.

Cervantes later sent the Inquirer a text message saying Karapatan “hopes that the new CHR Commissioner would at all times assert the commission’s independence.”

“We urge her to implement the recommendations of (special United Nations rapporteur) Philip Alston for CHR to effectively protect human rights victims,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes said Karapatan was disappointed that outgoing chairperson Quisumbing had given the Arroyo administration a high rating on human rights.

Cervantes said she heard Quisumbing on the radio giving the Arroyo administration an 8-out-of-10 rating in terms of its human rights record.

In a statement, she said Karapatan could not believe Quisumbing’s statement that the human rights situation under the Arroyo government has improved.