Rep. Roque asks Gascon: Save CHR, resign as its chairman
Representative Harry Roque, of the Kabalikat ng Mamamayan party-list, has urged Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Chito Gascon to resign to save the commission’s budget for next year.
Roque, in his visit to Dumaguete City over the weekend, said he cannot argue with House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who already said the CHR will get a one-peso budget, because it could not abolish it, being a constitutional body.
Roque said Gascon is his good friend, but the damage the latter had caused to the institution for accepting the post of the chairman of CHR is so big. “He (Gascon) is not just a card bearing member of the Liberal Party but a secretary general,” said the congressman.
He said this is the reason why human rights had become so unpopular lately because people have identified human rights with the Liberal Party. “And because the LP’s popularity is so low nowadays, human rights enforcement also suffered because it is identified as a partisan political issue,” the congressman told The FREEMAN.
“Unless we appoint a CHR chairman who is above politics, I’m afraid people will always view human rights as a political issue and will view it as a Liberal Party issue, and will not like it because they have to face it, the president enjoys an unprecedented popularity right now,” Roque said.
Roque recalled that he was instrumental in restoring the budget of the CHR, which was slashed by half last year. “But this time around, Gascon has to decide what to do because the speaker has spoken.”
On the budget of the Philippine National Police, Roque also clarified to the hierarchy that they will not get their budget unless they are able to convince Congress that they are running a professional police force, which means that they could discipline their erring members.
Meanwhile, Roque reiterated his opposition to the proposed tax reform package, saying there is no need for additional taxes because the government at this time is under-spending its budget.— Juancho R. Gallarde