Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. said Friday, September 15, it is still premature to worry too much about the P1,000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in 2018.
Hinlo said the decision of the House of Representatives can still be opposed by the Senate.
“If the Senate will not agree with the P1,000 budget there will be a deadlock and if it happens, the former budget will be carried over so they will have a budget,” he said.
Majority of members of the House of Representatives had earlier voted to give P1,000 budget for the CHR next year.
“We have to wait for the position of the Senate before we can actually say that the CHR is in danger of being indirectly abolished because it has no budget. It is a constitutional body that is needed,” Hinlo said.
He said many senators support the giving of budget to the CHR like Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Panfilo Lacson, and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“If CHR Chairman Jose Luis Martin Gascon wants to do away with this issue, he can resign. If he wants to solve the matter and does not want to resign, he can evaluate the position of the CHR regarding the crimes that are happening in the country,” Hinlo added.
Hinlo noted that the CHR keeps justifying that their mandate is only to guard abuses committed by the government and they are saying that the abuses or criminal acts committed by civilians or rebels against fellow civilians against the government is not their jobs, but the job of the police.
“They are only limiting their mandate. It is also a wake-up call to the CHR chairman,” he added.
“What if President Rodrigo Duterte will veto it, which we cannot prejudge because the President even made an announcement that the CHR chairman never showed support to the victims of crimes,” Hinlo said.
