AKBAYAN party-list Rep. Chel Diokno has raised concerns over the absence of funding under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) as mandated by special human rights laws including the Anti-Torture Law and the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law.
Diokno pressed the alarm button after CHR chairman Richard Palpal-latoc revealed during the Committee on Appropriations briefing on Tuesday that while several special laws grant additional mandates to the CHR, there are no corresponding budget allocations for their implementation under the proposed 2026 NEP, except for about ₱2 million earmarked for gender programs under the Magna Carta of Women.
“In other words, for the implementation, for example…(of) the anti-torture law and the anti-enforced disappearance, there’s nothing in the NEP,” Diokno told Palpal-latoc.
“It’s good that we learned that because hopefully we can do something about it,” added Diokno, himself a veteran human rights lawyer.
