The national organization of lawyers said the P1,000 budget given by the House of Representatives to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was an affront to the rule of law.
In a statement Tuesday, the more than 55,000 member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) led by its national president, Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo, reminded members of the House of Representatives that CHR was created by the 1987 Constitution as an independent body tasked to look into human rights violations of all persons within the Philippines and Filipinos abroad.
“The IBP believes that the miniscule budget approved by the House of Representatives is anathema to the continued existence and independence of the CHR and is thus an affront to the rule of law,” the IBP said.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the CHR is protecting criminals and suspects in the government’s war on drugs but silent on the victims of drug addicts.
The IBP called on the Senate to follow the Constitution which is clear on the intent why CHR was created.
“IBP Board of Governors, by a formal resolution, has urged the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines to exercise its powers under section 24, Article VI of the Constitution to propose amendments to the general appropriations bill approved by the House of Representatives and thereby ensure that the CHR is provided a sufficient amount of public funds in the General Appropriations Act for the year 2018,” said the statement.
“The appeal is being made in the context of the CHR’s Constitutional mandate, the multitude of Filipinos, here and abroad, whose human rights the CHR is duty-bound to protect, and the welfare of the CHR personnel and their families whose livelihoods depends on the CHR, in consonance with the duty of every public officer to be accountable to and to serve the Filipino people, in pursuit of the State Policy to preserve, protect and guarantee the full spectrum of human rights to every Filipino and to each person in the country, and in obedience to the Rule of Law,” it added. /je