Drilon warns of ‘deadlock’ if House will insist on P1k for CHR

With majority of senators saying they will fight to restore the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) proposed budget for 2018, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday warned of a “deadlock” if the House of Representatives will insist on the P1,000 funding for the agency.

In an interview, Drilon said giving a budget of P1,000 to the CHR will, in effect, abolish the agency.

“For you to in effect abolish not by passing a law but by not giving it a budget is certainly inconsistent with the Constitution and can be questioned on constitutional ground,” Drilon said.

“The Senate, I would like to think, will not stand for the abolition of the CHR, through giving it a P1,000 budget. If the House will insist on that, then there will be a deadlock for the 2018 General Appropriations Act,” he added. 

Drilon said a deadlock could result in reenacting the 2017 budget. The CHR, under the 2017 budget, was allocated P725 million.

On Tuesday night, the House of Representatives voted 119-32 in favor of giving the CHR, which has criticized the Duterte administration's war on drugs due to the high number of slain drug suspects, a measly P1,000 budget.

Reports quoting CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez will give a thumbs up on the CHR’s budget only if the agency’s chairman, Chito Gascon, will resign from his post.

Drilon and the other five members in the Senate minority bloc said they will support Senator Panfilo Lacson, who will sponsor the budget in the plenary, in restoring the budget of CHR. 

“We believe that the CHR plays a very critical role in this government particularly in light of the numerous killings in the campaign against illegal drugs, most especiialy those involving the death of teenagers such as Kian Lloyd delos Santos,” Drilon said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said the decision of the House suggests that the Duterte administration is not committed to protect human rights.

“Sa gitna ng kaliwa’t kanang patayan, ito pa ang gagawin ng House. This really adds to the terrible impression na paatras ng paatras yung administrasyon sa ating national and international obligations to protect human rights,” Hontiveros said on ANC’s Headstart.

The separate versions of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) will still be scrutinized in the bicameral conference committee to reconcile conflicting provisions.  —KBK, GMA News