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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Thursday. September 14, 2017
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ILOILO City – Congressmen Richard Garin (1st District, Iloilo), Arthur Defensor Jr. (3rd District, Iloilo) and Jerry Treñas (Lone District, Iloilo City) voted to give the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) a measly budget of P1,000 for 2018.
Garin told Panay News yesterday he was not satisfied with CHR chairman Chito Gascon’s performance but did not elaborate.
Gascon has been critical of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
A paltry budget for CHR could violate the security of tenure of its employees, admitted Garin.
Treñas, on the other hand, said he voted for the P1,000 CHR budget as a party man. He and Garin are members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
The President has been publicly rebuking the CHR for criticizing his brutal campaign against illegal drugs and at one point threatened to abolish it.
“Bal-an mo kundi upod ‘ko sa super majority sa Congress, so upod gid ko dira,” Garin told Panay News.
The congressman, however, clarified he believed “in the performance of CHR’s rank and file, that is why I am sure its budget for personal services, especially salaries, will be reconsidered and restored.”
Defensor is soon joining PDP-Laban, too.
“It was the motion submitted by the majority. Upod ako sa mayorya, especially that I am a member of the Committee on Rules, I am bound to support the motion,” he said.
The measly budget is the Lower House’s way of sending CHR a “message” in “bold terms”, admitted Defensor.
“Why is CHR is focusing only on the state (as human rights violator),” said Defensor.
A private person or a party that is not an agent of the state can also commit human rights violations, he stressed.
Defensor, however, said Congress’ deliberation of CHR’s budget is not yet over.
“I believe the budget will be restored. The budget process is not over yet. Makadto pa ‘na sa Senado and during the bicameral conference, istoryahan ina liwat,” he said.
Ilonggo congressmen Ferjenel Biron of the 4th District, Raul Tupas of the 5th District and Arcadio Gorriceta of the 2nd District failed to vote.
He had to leave the plenary for a scheduled meeting yesterday, said Biron.
Had he voted, Biron said, he would have given his nod to CHR’s proposed budget of P678 million for 2018.
Tupas, on the other hand, said he was at a meeting with the general manager of the National Housing Authority and administrator of the National Electrification Administration at the time of the voting.
Gorriceta, meanwhile, is currently on leave.
Atty. Arnold Molina of CHR Region 6 said what the congressmen did was “unthinkable.”
“In the first place, ang amon opisina is a constitutional body. Moreover, it is the policy of the state to guarantee full respect of human rights and carrying out that mandate,” said Molina.
Citing an international human rights instrument, Molina said the respect of human rights requires the state to refrain from doing acts that restrict the exercise of those rights.
“May mandate kami nga i-monitor ang compliance also of the government or the state with regards sa iya mga state obligations sa mga human rights instruments. Paano kami maka function as an institution with a P1,000 budget,” said Molina./PN
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