The Commission on Human Rights on Monday urged Congress and the Senate to enact the National Preventive Mechanism Bill to improve the treatment and conditions of the people deprived of liberty (PDL), and taking into consideration the relevant United Nations standards.
Despite the continuing rapid spread of the coronavirus, the Commission said, due process rights, including speedy-trial requirements and other components of the State’s criminal justice system must never be suspended or implemented subjectively, group spokesman Jacqueline Ann de Guia said.
She says the unprecedented issues confronting places of penal institutions during a pandemic pose a critical question on how we view our prison population and must spark systemic change in reimagining crime control and prison management in the country.
“At the end of the day, crimes must be punished, but there remains an inherent obligation of the government to uphold everyone’s dignity, especially those who are eyed to be reformed,” De Guia said.
The CHR joined the Catholic Church in the Philippines in observing the 33rd National Prison Awareness Week from Oct. 19 to 25.
The theme for this year is “Restoring Hope and Healing during this Time of Pandemic through God’s Transforming Unconditional Love.”