Lawmakers do human rights budget backflip after outcry

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s congressional allies have restored the budget of the nation’s human rights commission following an outcry over their vote last week to slash its annual funding to just US$20 (RM83).

The initial move to cut the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) budget was in response to its criticism of Duterte’s controversial war on drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives, with the president also verbally targeting its chairman with abuse.

Opposition lawmakers and other critics of the drug war condemned the vote in the House of Representatives, saying it was part of a campaign by Duterte and his allies to silence dissent and impose authoritarian rule.

House leaders said Wednesday night’s decision to restore the commission’s funding to 623 million pesos (RM51mil) was because they had extracted an agreement from the commission to look at issues other than the drug war.

“The CHR specifically agreed to look at all forms of human rights abuses involving civil and political rights, including those allegedly committed by (communists), Abu Sayyaf (militants) and other private armed groups,” House Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas said in a text message to AFP on Thursday.

The commission is one of several independent government bodies set up by the Philippine constitution to check the government’s power, including police and military forces.

The body has been investigating some of the deaths of the more than 3,800 people reported killed by police and other drug enforcement agencies in the drug war, as well as thousands of unexplained murders.

The commission’s chief Jose Luis Gascon confirmed yesterday that he had met house leaders the previous day to discuss the proposed budget cut.

But he did not confirm Farinas’ version of the outcome and emphasised that the commission would require even more money if it was to begin investigating alleged abuses by groups outside of the government. — AFP