Commission on Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon responds to questions of reporters on the sidelines of the indignation run for the 1,000th day of “unjust detention” of Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at CHR grounds in Quezon City. Gascon said it is up to the public to judge whether or not Senator Ronaldo “Bato” dela Rosa will be the “most effective” head of CHR. Photo by Darryl Esguerra/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Whether Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa can be the “most effective” head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is for the public to determine.
CHR chair Chito Gascon said this on Wednesday after the neophyte senator said he can get the job done at the commission should he be given the chance to do so.
Gascon stressed that the CHR is a “non-partisan Constitutional office” and that its head should always protect its independence.
Dela Rosa ran and won under President Rodrigo Duterte’s PDP-Laban party. He also served as the President’s first police chief when Duterte assumed office in 2016.
“So sinuman… dapat panindigan itong international standard na naitalaga ng UN or ang tinatawag na Paris Principle ng sinumang uupo sa Komisyon ng Karapatang Pantao,” Gascon told reporters.
(Whoever will be appointed as CHR head should stand by the international standard set by the UN or the so-called Paris Principle.)
“Kung kayang gampanan ito ni Sen. Bato, eh ang publiko na po ang magpapasya,” he added.
(Whether Sen. Bato can do that is for the public to decide.)
During the Senate deliberation on the proposed 2020 budget of CHR on Monday, Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is tasked to defend the body’s budget, suggested in jest that Dela Rosa should be appointed as the next chair of the government’s rights body.
Dela Rosa, who headed Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, said he could be the “most effective” chair of CHR as he empathized with heinous crimes convicts, who were excluded from the Good Conduct Time Allowance law (GCTA).
“I am for the death penalty but if there is still no death penalty and heinous crime convicts are really reformed, by all means, they should be given a second chance at life because I saw how they reform themselves. If you have not seen it, I did. I have had enough experience,” Dela Rosa said.Prior to his election as senator, Dela Rosa served as Bureau of Corrections chief after retiring as Philippine National Police chief.
Gascon nonetheless thanked the Senate for approving his commission’s 2020 budget.
He also thanked Dela Rosa for his inputs and call for more government support to CHR.