House gives CHR P 1000 budget for 2018.

The House of Representatives has approved to provide the CHR with only P1000 for its
2018 budget by a staggering 119-32 votes. The House approved the slashing of the original
P649.48 million proposed by the Department of Budget and Management. It seems that 119
Representatives were really eager to kiss President Duterte’s behind. And the most eager of them
all is 1-Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta who moved the reduction of the CHR budget.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has been threatening to slash and render the CHR’s budget to
be ineffective in his statements even before the proposal of the said budget cut due to is
criticizing of the thousands of killings and human rights abuses in President Duterte’s war on
drugs.
One of the reasons claimed by Marcoleta to move the budget cut is that he claims that the
CHR is an invalid body to begin with because there is no law enabling it and its creation only
took effect by way of then President Corazon Aquino’s Executive Order No. 163. He explains
“The Constitution does not say just because it mentions CHR, it is already created. How can we
appropriate a budget to an agency which has not been validly created?” But did he really read the
constitution regarding the primary mandate of the CHR, did any of the 119 voters read it? What
is so difficult in understanding the CHR’s purpose of safeguarding the human rights of any
citizen victimized by forces of the state?
CHR Chair Jose Luis Martin Gascon said the commission was saddened by the
“whimsical and capricious display of vindictiveness” in the House. Gascon said in a text
message “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 the CHR for us to
effectively perform our constitutional mandate as an independent office to protect human rights.”
It seems that the House of Representatives are very keen on masking the budget cut as
simply carrying out their duties of upholding justice and being good citizens as they have
included the DoH’s budget for drug rehabilitation in the budget cutting giving out an “unofficial”
explanation of donors would build mega rehab centers. But, we are all aware of why there is
even a extraordinary slashing of budget for the CHR, it isn’t just its so called “invalidity” but
because of their continuous scrutiny and criticism of the war on drugs initiated by President
Duterte.
Bullies and Blowhards.
We are all aware of what P1000 can get us. A family of 3 can spend P1000 in a single
meal in a normal restaurant. So what does this imply for the CHR which has been allotted with
exactly P1000 for its annual budget? Is the House saying that the CHR should just close up and
go away? It is important to note here how blatant the bullying is. The House clearly influenced
by the President to slash the CHR’s budget and is obviously very keen on pleasing the president.
If even the ordinary citizens of society are aware of the friction between the CHR and Mr.
President himself, then surely the members of the House of Representatives are too. Clearly the
House does not care of being seen as blowhards, going as far as justifying their atrocious acts.
“An act of bullying and a warning to those who dare call out this administration for what
it is doing to our fellow Filipinos” says #EveryWoman, a grouping of various women’s
organizations. The budget cut is a warning to all of us citizens of this nation. The Government is
telling us to not mess with them. It is telling us that they are just, righteous, and whoever says
otherwise will be thrown out of the picture and can do nothing about it. And they started by
sending us a message through the CHR budget cut. Although, the president himself admitted that
the cut is intended for CHR Chair Gascon, saying that Gascon is a “yellow” who opens his
mouth in a most inappropriate way. This statement by the President is a clear indication of how
self-righteously blind, an how much of an ignoramus the president is. “The pot calling the kettle
black” is very fitting saying in this situation.
Fortunately, the Senate is not as unrefined as the House of Representatives. The Senate
was intent on blocking the budget cut if it is passed on to them. In the end, the budget of the
CHR has been returned. But all these drama is clearly concerning as it sparks talks that a large
portion of the 3.7 trillion-peso budget will be used for a counterinsurgency program called
“Oplan Kapayapaan” and as well for the infamous and very controversial war on drugs. As a
consequence public funding for social programs on housing, education, healthcare and other
necessities of the general public will be affected by the budget allocation. The intent of the
national budget is a cause for concern for we all know that the war on drugs is a very blood one
and causes fear for both the guilty and the innocent, evidenced by the controversial killings of 3
young men; Kian, Carl and “Kulot”. All of which are accused of drug use, peddling, delivering,
etc. Now if the war on drugs is this bloody, this terrorizing for the citizens, then what more of a
counterinsurgency program? Will there be a war too? If there will be another, then it might be
the administration’s war against all those who call them out, or go against its plans, and by
implication, it will be a war against the Filipino citizens.