Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is getting support from several lawmakers to have a bigger budget for 2023, after the Department of Budget and Management allotted only around half of its proposed ₱1.6-billion for next year in the National Expenditure Program.
During the budget deliberation with the House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday, some lawmakers expressed concern that the commission only received over ₱800 million in funding, 12.27% lower than its ₱964.7-million budget for the current year.
“A larger sum of funds would enable them to expand and cover a greater number of vulnerable and underserved people, including those who were victims of abuses by the state and non-state actors,” said Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Sy-Limkaichong, who will sponsor the CHR budget in the plenary debates.
“Their role as an independent agency, acting as a check-and-balance and as a policy advisor to the government is as relevant today as it has been in the previous years,” she told the panel.
“What we want is not just to restore the budget but to also increase it to its original budget,” Sy-Limkaichong said in her closing remarks.
CHR Executive Director Jacqueline de Guia said that the budget cut may potentially affect their Maintenance and Other Operating Expense for the coming year, especially since the commission’s regional officers cover eight provinces. She said that responding to reports of human rights violations would “entail having to travel three to five hours at the minimum.”
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, ACT-Teachers Rep. France Castro, and Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas were among those who expressed support for a higher budget allocation for CHR during the committee deliberation.
However, Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, who once moved to give the commission a measly ₱1,000-budget before the lower chamber in 2018, repeatedly grilled the CHR over its mandate. He even shared that what he did five years ago made him gain bashers and even prompted his dissertation adviser to “abandon” him.
“I was then doing my doctoral dissertation at the University of the Philippines. Alam po ba ninyo na ‘yung aking adviser iniwan ako dahil sa aking ginawa (Did you know that my adviser abandoned me because of what I did)?” Marcoleta asked De Guia.
The Senate approved a ₱693-million budget for the CHR in 2017, eventually reversing the massive budget cut that was initially passed in the House plenary.
The budget bill for CHR’s 2023 budget will be sent to the plenary for another round of debate.
