Anchor: Lower house approves budget cut, CHR Commissioner Says House Reps Does

not Understand the Commission’s Functions

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, 12 September 2017 approved on it’s

first reading the proposed P1,000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights for the
fiscal year 2018. 119 lawmakers voted for the affirmative and only 32 voted for against
the proposed appropriations. Lawmakers, such as 1-Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta
justified the cut due to the what he said was the failure of the CHR to investigate rights
violations by terrorists.

CHR Chairperson Chito Gascon on the other hand defends the Constitutional
mandate of the Commission.

The CHR was created under Article 13, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution and
granted specific powers and functions under Sec. 18 as highlighted in Cariño v CHR,G.R.
No. 96681. These functions include:

(1) Investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights
violations involving civil and political rights;

(2) Adopt its operational guidelines and rules of procedure, and cite for contempt for
violations thereof in accordance with the Rules of Court.

(3) Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons
within the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for preventive
measures and legal aid services to the under-privileged whose human rights have been
violated or need protection;

(4) Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or detentions facilities;

(5) Establish a continuing program of research, education, and information to enhance

respect for the primacy of human rights;

(6) Recommend to the Congress effective measures to promote human rights and to
provide for compensation to victims of violations of human rights, or their families;

(7) Monitor the Philippine Government’s compliance with international treaty

obligations on human rights;
(8) Grant immunity from prosecution to any person whose testimony or whose
possession of documents or other evidence is necessary or convenient to determine the
truth in any investigation conducted by it or under its authority;

(9) Request the assistance of any department, bureau, office, or agency in the
performance of its functions;

(10) Appoint its officers and employees in accordance with law; and

(11) Perform such other duties and functions as may be provided by law.

The issue on the CHR budget in the Lower House was concluded on Thursday,
September 21 with the House finally restoring the Commission’s budget to P600M. To
give us an in-depth report on the functions and powers of CHR , here’s _____

**(Video here)**

Report: CHR to investigate human right abuses

Yes, ___________. It can be recalled that the CHR budget cut caused mass protest
and outraged among Human Rights advocates as this might as well render the
Commission useless. But how does the Commission really function?

Pursuant to Sections 17 to 19, Article XIII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, in

relation to Executive Order No. 163, dated 5 May1987, and relevant international human
rights instruments, the Commission on Human Rights shall take cognizance of and
investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations
and abuses involving civil and political rights, to include but not limited to the following:

a)right to life;

b)right to liberty;

c) right to security;

d)right to respect for one’s dignity;

e)freedom from slavery and involuntary servitude;

f)freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatmentand punishment;
g)right to protection from enforced disappearance;
h)freedom from arbitrary interference with one’s privacy, family,home, or
correspondence;i) freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile;
j) freedom of movement and residence;
k) freedom of thought,conscience and religion;
l) freedom of the press, speech, opinion and expression;
m) freedom from discrimination

Subsequently, while the term human rights is very generic, the court in Simon v CHR,
G.R. No. 100150 provided for the focus on more severe cases of human rights violations
namely (1) protection of rights of political detainees, (2) treatment of prisoners and the
prevention of tortures, (3) fair and public trials, (4) cases of disappearances, (5)
salvagings and hamletting, and (6) other crimes committed against the religious."

CHR Commissioner Robert Cadiz contends that the mandate of the CHR is
concerned in most cases with the alleged violations of the state.

The CHR provided guidelines about filing a complaint: who can file it, how the filing
is done and the outcome. Accordingly, any concerned individual or group may file a
complaint for human rights violations before the Commission, particularly the victim, his
/ her relatives, non-government organizations or any governmental or private entity.
Anonymous complaints or complaints under a fictitious name shall not be disregarded
outright. If upon such initial evaluation or verification or on the basis of the information
or details provided in the anonymous complaint, it appears to be meritorious or has
some factual basis, the Commission shall proceed to investigate the matter.

Complaints can be lodged about any and all human rights violations. A full list of
protected human rights can be found in the Philippines Bill of Rights.Complaints are
required to be made in writingand may be in the form of a letter, affadavit, question and
answer statement, pleading or similar form. Upon the filing of a written complaint, the
complainant shall be required to accomplish CHR Form 9 – Complaint Sheet and
execute a sworn statement, with the assistance of a duty investigator or legal officer. In
cases of abuse of children’s rights, the complainant shall also accomplish pertinent
sections of “CHR Form 10 – Complaints Form for Child Rights Violations”.

Complaints can be submitted to the Commission, to the Barangay Human Rights

Action Center, through a Commissioner or any of the regional or sub-offices, nearest to
the place where the violation occurred or continues to exist.
 After the complaint has been submitted, preliminary evaluation of the complaint is
performed to determine whether the matters fall within the jurisdiction of the
Commission. This evaluation may involve a field investigation or fact-finding mission.
An investigation report will be compiled, including an investigation plan, an initial
report, progress reports, the legal basis for the investigation, profile of the victim and
respondent, the allegations, a list of witnesses, summary of evidence, all relevant data,
specific provisions violated, investigation and observation and a recommendation for
resolution.
The final evaluation of the case and preparation of the resolution shall be made within
15 days from the submission of the final investigation report, together with all the
evidence gathered in the course of the investigation and/or dialogue. A final resolution
is prepared by a legal officer, subject to review and approval by the Regional Director. It
consists of the facts of the case, evidence, issues involved, a conclusion of whether there
is a human rights violation and of what provision as well as what the recomm
endations are.
The Office may provide alternative dispute resolution of cases through mediation
and conciliation. However, mediation and conciliation are not available in cases of
serious violations, such as child abuse, domestic violence, torture, or when the two
parties do not agree to submit their case to the process. In any other cases, the
Commission may use these measures as a first course of action before the initial
investigation, or at any stage of the investigation, upon the discretion of the
investigating officer.
The Commission cannot review human rights violations and abuses that are
pending in court and are involving the same parties and the same issue.
All records of cases shall remain confidential until the resolution of the case shall have
become final.
The Commission can issue recommendations (endorsement for the filing of an
appropriate legal or legislative action, or grant of financial assistance), reports,
declarations and advises. These are not legally binding for the companies. Press releases
by the Commission can be used to pressure the companies into complying with the
recommendations. It can also resort to mediation and conciliation.
If a case is solved through mediation or conciliation, a settlement or an
agreement is put into writing and signed by the parties, with the assistance of a
mediator or conciliator.
 The Assistance and Visitorial office can grant financial assistance to human rights
violation victims, community assistance, as well as rehabilitation assistance.
The Commission continues to monitor the submitted cases after their completion.
Recommendations can be referred to a Court in order to enforce them, and legislative
proposals can be made. If a settlement is reached through conciliation or mediation, the
parties can still bring their complaint to court, in case the terms of the agreement are
not complied with or the conditions therein not kept.
Any party to a human rights case, or concerned citizen, or an organization
representing the party can, within 15 days of the publication, file a motion for
reconsideration against the final resolution.
The court provided a rationale on the fact-finding function of the Commission in
Cariño v CHR, GR G.R. No. 96681 where it said that “purpose of investigation, of course,
is to discover, to find out, to learn, obtain information. Nowhere included or intimated is
the notion of settling, deciding or resolving a controversy involved in the facts inquired
into by application of the law to the facts established by the inquiry.”

(Mention name of anchor here)

Anchor: Thank you ___________.

The CHR was not silent on potential cases of government abuse during the
Aquino administration.

In 2014, the CHR also investigated a so-called "wheel of torture" that Laguna
police allegedly used to torture crime suspects in a police facility in Biñan, Laguna.

In 2015, Chito Gascon, the CHR chairman, urged law enforcement agencies to
pursue the killers of Emerito Samarca, executive director of Alternative Learning Center
for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) and community leaders Dionel
Campos and Aurelio Sinzo.The Lumad leaders were killed in Lianga, Surigao del Sur by a
group that activists linked to the Army’s 36th Infantry Battalion.

In 2016, the commission recommended charges against local government

officials, law enforcement personnel, inquest prosecutors and protest organizers in the
violent dispersal of farmers in Kidapawan in Cotobato province in April of that year.
And just this April, the CHR was able to discover a hidden detention cell in Tondo
via surprise inspection. Thereafter, the Commission called on law enforcement agencies
and other investigating bodies, including the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in conducting a nationwide inspection on jail
facilities.