CHR needs bigger budget for it to do ‘police functions’ —Gascon

Congress should increase the Commission on Human Rights' (CHR) budget if it wants it to perform "police functions," its chairman, Chito Gascon, said Thursday.

"What they want us to do is essentially for the commission to do police functions, but we don't have the same type of budget that the police is currently enjoying," Gascon pointed out in an interview with reporters.

"In fact the budget just for [Oplan] Tokhang, which is not a total of the sums allocated for the police, is larger than CHR's budget," he added, referring to the anti-drug campaign of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Gascon's rift with the leadership of the House of Representatives had resulted in the CHR being given a P1,000 budget for 2018.

The chamber has since decided to restore the CHR budget, though not in full. Instead of the P623 million the CHR asked for, the chamber only gave it P508 million for next year.

Critics, among them Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, has accused the CHR of being partial against the Duterte administration as it probes alleged abuses committed by the policemen in its intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

According to Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles, the CHR budget was restored after Gascon committed to investigate human rights abuses committed by non-state factors.

"The points of discussion were, sa side ng House, the Constitution provides all human rights violations. So it shouldn't be limited only to state actors, to military, to police, and he (Gascon) was very open naman about it," he said.

But Gascon said the CHR will have a hard time performing police functions when its budget is even lower compared to the PNP's allocation for its anti-illegal drug operations. 

He also said the CHR is not a law enforcement institution but "a monitoring and oversight institution. —KBK, GMA News