Commission on Human Rights : Arroyo administration gets failing grade

Arroyo administration gets failing grade on HR

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday gave President Arroyo's administration a failing grade for its efforts to solve cases of human rights violations in the country.

On a scale of 1 to 10, CHR Chairwoman Purificacion Quisumbing gave the Arroyo administration a "less than 4."

"Ay sa implementasyon ng mga sinasabing treaties on human on rights ay talagang less than four sa ngayon. Kung 1 to 10 ay 4 ang implementation natin dito sa Pilipinas (With regard to the implementation of treaties on human rights, its score is less than four for now)," Quisumbing told ABS-CBN's "Magandang Umaga Pilipinas."

Quisumbing, meanwhile, gave her office a grade of 6.

She said CHR is not only active in investigating various cases of human rights violations, but it is also very busy raising the people's awareness about their rights.

She added that CHR is also concentrating on investigating unexplained or extrajudicial killings.

Quisumbing said her office has already filed several cases of human rights violations that have yet to be acted upon by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which serves under the Office of the President.

The CHR chairwoman said she is optimistic that DOJ will act on the cases since Mrs. Arroyo is always asked about the issue of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines during her state visits to other countries.

"Our suggestion is [for the government to open] a fast lane justice for human rights victims," she said.

Quisumbing, meanwhile, admitted that the CHR operates on a low budget, which prevents it from adding personnel.

She said CHR also needs to have prosecutorial powers as all it can do for human rights victims is investigate their complaints and recommend the filing of cases to the DOJ.

For his part, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said party-list representatives and other members of the minority in the House of Representatives have attempted to raise CHR's budget.

Casiño, however, said their attempts proved futile because human rights is among the least of the priorities of the House majority.

Quisumbing said the good thing is that the Supreme Court, based on its recent decisions, seems to be giving more attention to human rights victims.

The high court had recently absolved six activist lawmakers, including Casiño, from the rebellion cases filed against them by the government for their alleged involvement in the attempt to oust Mrs. Arroyo from office last year.

The Supreme Court had recently put up special courts for extrajudicial killings.

Activist groups on Thursday asked the high court to include in its prosecution the rising number of enforced disappearances in the country, including the abduction of agriculturist Jonas Burgos. ABS-CBN NEWS