COMMISSION on Human Rights chairman Jose Luis Martin Gascon slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for his “utter disregard” of civil liberties, after he called for the abolition of the state human rights agency, a move backed by two of his senior security officials.
“The President’s statements made both at his second Sona [State of the Nation Address] and after should remove any doubt regarding the attitude his administration will take towards respecting the human rights guarantees enshrined in the Constitution,” Gascon said in a statement Tuesday.
“The actions during the first year of his presidency coupled with his words said over the same period exhibit an utter disregard for due process, equal protection, and other civil liberties. This has encouraged the deepening of impunity,” he added.
Gascon said that any move to abolish the CHR should be first pushed in Congress, which created the body under the 1987 Constitution.
“Any discussion to abolish CHR or any other institution for that matter can be taken in the proposed constitutional-reform process,” he said. “In other words, we shall cross the bridge when we get there. I remain hopeful human rights would still be affirmed.”
Until then, he said the CHR will continue performing its mandate of “fact-finding and documenting human rights violations as well as informing the public about the importance of human rights in society, he added.
In a news conference soon after his second Sona, Duterte threatened to abolish the CHR should it continue to investigate his bloody war on drugs.
He also told military and police personnel they should not appear in any investigation without his approval—adding that investigators should course their requests through him first.
The President had the same message for the Office of the Ombudsman, saying that it should refrain from citing anyone in contempt because he had the authority to tell soldiers and the police whether they should cooperate with an investigation.
The two institutions are constitutional bodies that are independent of the other branches of government.
The CHR is constitutionally tasked to investigate alleged human rights violations perpetrated by state actors or the government, while the Ombudsman represents the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints of maladministration or violations of rights.
While there is a need for check-and-balances mechanisms, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a Tuesday briefing said that there should be no need for a human rights commission if everyone will follow the Constitution.
“When we took our oath [of] office, the most important part of the oath is to defend and protect the [1987] Constitution of the Philippines. What is the most important part of the Constitution? It is the Bill of Rights. No person shall be deprived of his life, liberty or property without due process. If we will only follow it, I think we no longer need Human Rights [Commission],” Lorenzana said in a news briefing, after initially declining to give his thoughts about the issue.
Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa seemed to justify the President’s threat.
“It’s okay with me. No problem. It’s okay with the President, then it’s okay with me. Why? Whether there is CHR or none, if the police will violate human rights, it will violate human rights. It now lies in the conscience of the police. Even if there is no CHR, if you are a decent police, you will not do any wrong,” Dela Rosa said.
“I am just being practical, with or without CHR, we can do our job properly without violating the human rights of the people, with or without them. We don’t need them to watch over us,” Dela Rosa added.