MANILA, Philippines – How much are human rights worth?

On Tuesday, September 12, netizens slammed the House of Representatives for voting to allocate only P1,000 to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for 2018.

Acting on a motion by SAGIP Representative Rodante Marcoleta, 119 voted in favor of giving the Constitutional body a measly P1,000 for the coming year while 32 legislators voted against it.

The House of Representatives votes to give the Commission on Human Rights only P1,000 for 2018. What are your thoughts on this? pic.twitter.com/x3kS7WKTUw — Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) September 12, 2017

Shit muntik ko na matapakan human rights natin. pic.twitter.com/RPwMU8NrUh — Rein Bugnot (@reinneverstops) September 12, 2017

1000 pesos for 103,300,000 Filipinos



Let us never forget that for this government, our human rights are only worth Php 0.000009 apiece #CHR — Angelo Silva (@juangelosilva) September 12, 2017

If this isn't a rubber stamp Congress, I don't know what is — Moses Albiento (@mosesalbiento) September 12, 2017

Reducing the CHR's budget is reducing the budget of the poor, the marginalized, the powerless, the oppressed. — Harold Malig Goméz (@roldiegomez) September 12, 2017

How will CHR maximize a 1000-peso budget to protect the Filipino people from numerous HRVs done by the gov't? Shame. — Melissa (@care_balleras) September 12, 2017

The CHR was formed exactly as a response to the abuses of martial law & dictatorship. Defunding it would mean we are going back to that era. — LEI, REANGLED. (@legallytanned) September 12, 2017

'Yung mas mataas pa 'yung sweldo ni Mocha Uson kaysa sa budget ng CHR for next year. Ang hirap mong mahalin, Pilipinas. — Ariesa Domingo (@beeyotchWP) September 12, 2017

Related keywords like "Human Rights", "House", and "Congress" were quick to land on Twitter trending topics in the Philippines.

Screenshot from Twitter

Netizens started comparing the P1,000 budget to several items using #CHRBudgetCheaper, in an attempt to show the absurdity of the decision.

On Monday, September 11, the Senate's finance committee approved the proposed budget of the CHR for fiscal year 2018 amounting to P678 million. (READ: Senate committee okays CHR budget for 2018)

What does this House decision mean for the CHR? Here are tweets explaining what will happen next:

What do you think about House's decision during the budget debates? Let us know in the comments section below. – Rappler.com</s>Image copyright AFP Image caption Thousands have been killed since President Duterte launched his war on drugs last year

Lawmakers in the Philippines have voted to give an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($20; £15) to the public body investigating the country's controversial war on drugs.

The cut to the budget of the Commission on Human Rights was supported by a margin of 119 to 32 in Congress.

Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez labelled the commission "useless".

But critics say the move is punishment for the body's staunch criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte's drugs war.

Thousands have been killed since President Duterte launched the anti-drug crackdown last year. It aims to wipe out the drug trade in the Philippines, but has attracted international criticism over the number of deaths.

The Commission on Human Rights, which has been investigating the killings, initially requested a budget of 1.72bn pesos ($34m; £25m) for 2018, but the government proposed less than half of that.

On the second reading of the legislation, Congress voted for the figure to be cut to just 1,000 pesos, a massive cut from 2017's budget of 749m pesos.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The government's crackdown on drugs has provoked international criticism

Speaking in a television interview, Mr Alvarez, said: "If you want to protect the rights of criminals, get your budget from the criminals."

He then accused the commission of incompetence, saying: "Why should you get budget from the government and yet you are not doing your job?"

Congressman Edcel Lagman, who opposed the budget cut, said the president's supporters in Congress were "virtually imposing the death penalty on a constitutionally created and mandated independent office".

Although the motion still requires approval in the Senate, opponents say it is likely to be passed because President Duterte has a majority in the two chambers.</s>The Philippines House of Representatives has voted to slash the budget of a government agency investigating President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs. The budget of the Commission on Human Rights was cut from $38m to $20, but the new proposal still requires approval by the Philippines Senate.</s>The Philippines House of Representatives stepped closer to the suppression of human rights in the country by practically defunding a government body tasked to protect the Filipino against human rights abuses, in light of reports of extra judicial killings involving the police.

The lower house passed funding legislation that allocated 1,000 Philippine pesos – US$19.62 – to the Commission on Human Rights for fiscal year 2018. Many believe the House move is in retaliation against the Commission’s public rebuke of the Duterte Administration’s war on drugs, which has reportedly claimed the lives of over 13,000 suspected drug dealers and users across the Philippines – mostly in poverty-stricken areas.

Official records from the Philippine National Police, however, revealed that 3,811 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed in 70,856 anti-drug operations it conducted from July 1, 2016 to August 29, 2017. The rest of the victims were gunned down by civilian vigilantes who apparently felt empowered by President Rodrigo Duterte’s previous statements encouraging police and civilians to “kill criminals.”

In a televised address on June 6, 2016, Duterte said, “Please feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun ... you have my support. Shoot him [the drug dealer] and I'll give you a medal."

In recent weeks, at least three teenaged boys were allegedly killed in police operations – Kian Delos Santos, 17; Carl Angelo Arnaiz, 19; and Reynaldo de Guzman, 14. Delos Santos was killed by police during their anti-drug operation in a Manila suburb, while Arnaiz allegedly exchanged gun shots with cops after trying to rob a taxi driver. De Guzman reportedly was last seen with Arnaiz; his body has yet to be recovered.

The bodies of two more teenaged boys had been recently discovered in northern Philippines last week, one of them, initially suspected to be that of 14-year-old De Guzman but subsequent DNA tests proved otherwise – had 30 stab wounds.

The public and rights advocates did not hide their outrage over the House’s move to appropriate $20 in total 2018 funding for the Commission on Human Rights.

Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that the depriving the Philippines Commission of an appropriate budget effectively prevents it from delivering on its mandate.

“Commission on Human Rights … is a crucial institution for the Philippines: for human rights protection, the rule of law, accountability. It cannot deliver on its mandate without an appropriate budget, particularly at a time when it is confronted with allegations of massive human rights violations throughout the country, and including, but not only, in the context of the ill-advised , destructive ‘war on drug’,” Callamard said.

She added, “The people of the Philippines deserves a strong independent human rights institution able to monitor, investigate, and report on human rights violations, protect victims and their families, and hold the powerful to account for their abuses of international human rights standards. Instead they are getting a ‘war on drugs’ which, by the President's own account, has failed to curtail addiction rates, while creating a climate of fear and insecurity, feeding impunity, and undermining the constitutional fabrics of the Country.”

Filipino-Australian journalist Cher Jimenez-Cayabyab posted on Facebook, “Now expect more innocent people to die from this government's senseless drug war policy. And when it's your loved one's turn to become this government's next victim there'll be no CHR to help you.”

Manila-based journalist Ernie Reyes said the congressmen’s vote to allocate a 20-dollar budget each for the Commission on Human Rights and the National Commission for Indigenous People speaks volumes about the legislators’ stand on extrajudicial killings.</s>The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to give a P1,000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a critical government agency threatened by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with a measly 2018 budget.

During the House budget plenary debates, at least 119 lawmakers voted to approve the P1,000 budget for the CHR.

Only 32 lawmakers voted against it.

READ: Zero budget for human rights commission? Gascon fears the worst

The decision of the lower House to gut the CHR’s budget from the proposed P649.484 million budget (inclusive of retirement and life insurance program) down to P1,000 was meant that Alvarez is making good with his word to give the commission, long critical of the administration’s war on drugs, a measly budget that would render the CHR ineffective in its operations next year.

READ: Alvarez wants zero budget for CHR

Alvarez, in a televised interview with CNN Philippines, said the CHR deserved the very low budget for being a “useless” agency and for defending the rights of criminal syndicates.

“Ngayon, kung gusto mong protektahan yung rights ng criminal, eh kumuha ka ng budget sa mga criminal. Ganun lang kasimple yun. Bakit ka kukuha ng budget sa gobyerno, eh hindi mo ginagawa yung (trabaho mo),” Alvarez said in the interview.

(Now, if you want to protect the rights of the criminals, get your budget from the criminals. It’s that simple. Why should you get budget from the government and yet you are not doing your job.) /jpv</s>The Senate finance committee has approved the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) P678-million budget for 2018 despite a lawmaker’s threat to give it only a P1,000 outlay.

Next year’s CHR budget downgraded by P71 million the commission’s 2017 allocation of P749 million.

It still includes a P28-million fund for the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission.

 Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier threatened to give a P1,000 budget to the CHR for allegedly being partisan against the Duterte administration, particularly for criticizing the President’s campaign against drugs.

In a television interview with CNN on Monday, Alvarez was asked if the cutting of the CHR’s budget to only P1,000 would render the agency useless, to which he replied, “Useless din naman sila ngayon [They are useless even now].”

The commissiom responded, saying it respects Alvarez’s comment.

“We respect the statement of Speaker Alvarez. But the Constitution guarantees fiscal autonomy to all constitutional commissions and offices and we are confident as well as hopeful that Congress shall recognize these,” CHR spokesman Jackie de Guia said in a text message to The Manila Times.

She added, “To be fair, the current administration has provided the highest budget for the commission this year which we hope will be sustained.”

Before the budget was approved, CHR Chairman Chito Gascon also expressed his sentiments through a Facebook post on Monday evening, asking for further support “in challenging circumstances.”

Created by the 1987 Constitution, the CHR is mandated to protect the civil and political rights of citizens in the Philippines by investigating human rights abuses in the country.

It is granted “Status A” as a national human rights institution with complaint handling, human rights education and recommendations on law reform as its core functions.</s>COMMISSION on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Chito Gascon said that he was extremely disappointed by the decision of the House of Representatives to allocate a P1,000-budget for the agency.

“We are saddened by this whimsical and capricious display of vindictiveness,” Gascon said in a text message to The Manila Times on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives, voting 119-32, approved on Tuesday the measly budget of the CHR for 2018, which is way below its proposed P678 million.

Although the proposal was approved at the Senate finance committee on Monday, it was not to be in the House as Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez himself claimed that the CHR “failed to fulfill its mandate.”

Gascon said: “We had hoped that both the Speaker and the House Majority would have been persuaded by reason and necessity to allocate an adequate budget to CHR in order for us to effectively perform our constitutional mandate as an independent office to protect human rights.”

Before the budget cut, Congress has expanded the role of the CHR by designating powers and functions in special laws, such as the Magna Carta for Women; the Anti-Torture Law; the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law; and as Ombudsman for children. As part of its mandate, the CHR cooperates with different stakeholders and has assisted the Human Rights Offices of the Security Sector, as well as the Presidential Human Rights Committee.

Despite the House vote, the CHR still thanked the 32 lawmakers who “stood their ground to defy the tyranny of number shamelessly exhibited (Tuesday night).”

He added: “We will pursue our cause in the course of the ongoing budget process as the budget goes to the Senate…we will also explore all available remedies.”</s>MINORITY leader Danilo Suarez said the House of Representatives may rethink the P1,000 budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) if its Chairman Chito Gascon would resign.

“I am willing to ask the majority to reconsider the P1,000 budget of CHR if there will be a reorganization,” Suarez said on Wednesday, a day after the House approved on second reading the proposed national budget for 2018.

“You cannot fire them kasi constitutional ang office na iyan. But if he will stay there, we will stand pat…Pero if magre-resign siya, siguro ire-reconsider namin ‘yung position ng budget ng Commission on Human Rights,” he said.

When sought for his reaction, Gascon said the House decision to slash the budget was “whimsical and capricious” while senators said they would do their “darn best” to restore the commission’s proposed P678-million allocation.

READ: Senators to do ‘darn best’ to restore P678-M human rights budget</s>COTABATO CITY: The House of Representatives has approved the P33.469-billion budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for 2018.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman expressed appreciation to the passage of the region’s fund which was done in a fastest record of less than three minutes deliberation.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished in the ARMM and we have answered all queries sufficiently during the pre-plenary hearings. The House has shown yet again that it trusts the regional government,” Hataman said.

 The ARMM proposed budget was sponsored by Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte’s first district.

The Senate will tackle the ARMM budget on the committee level on Monday.</s>Duterte interacts with members of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines who attended the National Heroes Day Commemoration at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, metro Manila, Philippines, on Aug 28, 2017. Source: Reuters/Malacanang Presidential Palace

PHILIPPINES parliamentarians allied with President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday voted to allocate an annual budget of only PHP1,000 (US$19.64) to the national human rights commission, which is investigating the country’s controversial war on drugs.

At least 119 out of 151 lower house members present voted in favour of dramatically cutting the Commission on Human Rights’ budget for 2018.

Critics of the anti-drugs campaign see the move as retaliation for the agency’s criticism of Duterte and efforts to probe thousands of killings over the past 15 months. The president has previously threatened to abolish the body completely.

SEE ALSO: ‘Let’s kill another 32 every day’: Philippines drug war sees deadliest days on record

In a statement, the Commission on Human Rights said it regretted the decision to “undermine our role as a check-and-balance mechanism” which it said it did “without fear or favour, in a non-partisan manner, and as rightfully mandated by the 1987 constitution.”

“[Duterte’s government] have wrongly perceived our role as combative rather than a collaborative effort to bolster Philippine democracy by ensuring that all public officials are honest in the performance of their duties and adhere to universally accepted principles of human rights,” it said.

The rights agency deserved a low budget for being a “useless” body and defending criminals’ rights, the speaker of the house of representatives, Pantaleon Alvarez, said in a television interview.

“It’s that simple. Why should you get budget from the government and yet you are not doing your job?”

Thirty-two minority lawmakers opposed the measure, said Congressman Edcel Lagman, adding that the president’s supporters were “virtually imposing the death penalty on a constitutionally created and mandated independent office”.

The agency requested a budget of PHP1.72 billion (US$33,788,400) for 2018, but the government proposed PHP678 million (US$13,318,930).

SEE ALSO: Philippines: Students, Catholic church protest over teenager’s drug war death

On the second reading of the legislation, Congress approved that the figure be slashed to just PHP1,000 pesos, a huge cut from the 2017 budget of PHP749 million (US$14,713,685).

Though the motion still requires another reading and Senate approval, opponents say it is likely to be passed, as Duterte enjoys a supermajority in the two chambers.

The agency has long complained it lacks manpower and resources to fully investigate the killings. Its head, Chito Gascon, said the measly budget was an attempt to force his resignation.

“The principal reason why I cannot resign my office is that to do so is to weaken the institution itself,” Gascon said.

He added: “On pretext, asking me to resign would lead to essentially making the institution forever at the mercy of politics.”

Filipinos are largely supportive of Duterte’s crackdown as a solution to tackling rampant crime stemming from drug addiction.

However, activists say the prime targets have been users and small-time peddlers and accuse police of executing thousands of people. The police reject that and say they kill only in self-defence.

“If we need to go to the Supreme Court on this issue we will consider that as well,” added Gascon.

SEE ALSO: Philippines police free to kill ‘idiots’ who resist arrest – Duterte

Lawmakers may have misunderstood the agency’s role, said one representative, Raul del Mar. “We need to be reminded that the CHR’s main function is to curb the excesses and abuses of those in the seat of power,” he said.

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard called the move “reprehensible and unconscionable.”

Callamard recently described the killing of 17-year-old schoolboy Kian Delos Santos by Manila police as “murder” in a tweet on Aug 25, earning the ire of Duterte who in a separate speech later called her “son of a bitch” and “stupid.”

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said that Duterte had attempted to “vilify, harass and intimidate” those seeking investigation into drug war deaths and was running a “war on accountability.”
The House of Representatives of the Philippines approves a bill that limits the budget of the Commission on Human Rights to only ₱1,000 (US$20).