CHR Gets Pittance from 2009’s Trillion-Peso Budget

It is a shame to hear that the Commission on Human Rights, despite the taxing demand it now faces amid unsolved and continuing cases of extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, and disappearances, is getting a mere pittance from the country’s PhP 1.4 trillion (USD 29.1 billion) budget for this year.

BY RORIE R. FAJARDO
Project Coordinator
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
Posted by Bulatlat

It is a shame to hear that the Commission on Human Rights, despite the taxing demand it now faces amid unsolved and continuing cases of extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, and disappearances, is getting a mere pittance from the country’s PhP 1.4 trillion (USD 29.1 billion) budget for this year.

The CHR, according to an Inquirer.net news report, was originally asking for a 100 percent increase of its PhP 253-million (USD 5.2 million) budget proposed by the Office of the President. The budget, CHR chair Leila De Lima said, would be used to develop a PhP 35-million (USD 729 million) forensic center to strengthen its investigating and monitoring powers, and to train forensic investigators.

But the Congress approved only a little over the PhP 253 million budget, which would only go to salaries and operating expenses of CHR personnel. This would not even cover the CHR’s need to rent new space as the building where it now stays along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City is already condemned.

The Congress’ decision to close the coffers from CHR came at one of the most distressing times for human rights in the Philippines. A week before the President signed into law the 2009 budget, 20-year-old teacher Rebelyn Pitao was abducted, tortured, raped and killed in Davao by alleged military agents to pressure her father, New People’s Army leader Parago, to surrender. Rebelyn’s body was found in a watery ditch in Davao del Norte the following day.

Days later, on March 9, South Cotabato anti-mining activist Eleazer “Boy” Billanes was gunned down by motorcycle-riding men in Koronadal City. Human rights advocates point to the military and the Xtrata-owned Sagittarius Mining in Tampakan, South Cotabato as the culprits and the NPA vowed to seek justice for the slain activist.

And during these times, vigilante-style killings of petty criminals in Davao City remained unabated that prompted CHR to hold public hearings between March 30 and 31. Prominent cases of desaparecidos – Jonas Burgos, James Balao, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño among others – remained unsolved.

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