Ping vows to raise CHR budget

Sen. Panfilo Lacson has vowed to augment the budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for 2017, which saw a significant cut, based on the National Expenditure Program submitted by Malacañang to Congress.

In the Senate hearing on the proposed 2017 budget of the CHR yesterday, it was revealed that the agency submitted an original budget of over P1.4 billion, but Malacañang, in its submission to Congress, put it at only P496 million.

“So there was a P927-million cut and it’s unfair to them, considering they will have their hands full because of the war on drugs,” said Lacson, who is chairman of the Senate finance subcommittee handling the CHR budget. “These are challenging times as far as the CHR is concerned.”

CHR Chairman Chito Gascon said the agency requires more funding at this time, with all of its investigations on the alleged human rights violations and extrajudicial and summary killings under the current administration, victims of which have reached over 3,000 individuals as of last count.

Gascon said the CHR has so far investigated only 300 cases, and the funding requirement for its witness protection program (WPP) continues to grow.

“The number of witnesses who want to enter the WPP of the CHR is growing and we don’t have enough funds for this purpose,” Gascon said in Filipino.

Gascon noted that the budget for each person placed under its WPP would typically be around P100,000 to P200,000 to cover for the safehouses, upkeep and medical requirements.

Gascon said the government’s war against drugs has raised the number of persons applying for the CHR’s WPP.

President Duterte has been critical of the CHR after Gascon told a public hearing in the Senate that many of the killings taking place under the current administration could be classified as extrajudicial killings based on the definition of the United Nations.

Lacson said he intends to augment the budget of the CHR and the other “small agencies” by realigning various items in the proposed 2017 national budget, which he has classified as akin to pork barrel.

“I have identified some in the listed items of the budget,” Lacson said. “We have seen some that we suspect ( are like the) PDAF ( Priority Development Assistance Fund),” Lacson said, referring to the official name of the pork barrel fund, which has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Lacson said each legislator was allowed by the Department of Budget and Management to identify P80 million in projects under the 2017 national budget.