The Commission on Human Rights has backed the passage of House Bill No. 6297 or the New Public Assembly Act to strengthen the enjoyment and free exercise of the right to peaceful assembly and petition the government for redress of grievances.
“As the country’s national human rights institution and in exercise of our constitutional mandate to protect and promote human rights, we submit this position paper to the committee on people’s participation (hereinafter, the ‘Committee’) of the House of
Representatives, 18th Congress to explain our position of support and to recommend other measures to further strengthen the mechanisms provided in the bill,” its statement read.
Chairperson Jose Luis Martin Gascon, and Commissioners Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, Roberto Eugenio Cadiz, Karen Gomez-Dumpit and Leah Tanodra-Armamento shared the same stance that the right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances is, together with the freedom of speech, of expression and of the press, a right that enjoys primacy in the realm of constitutional protection.
“These rights constitute the very basis of a functional democratic polity, without which all the other rights would be meaningless and unprotected,” the agency said.
