Pimentel proposes creation of human-rights resource centers

MANILA –Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
(PDP-Laban) is proposing the establishment of Human
Rights Resource Centers (HRRCs) throughout the country
to integrate the promotion and protection of human
rights in the implementation of the criminal justice
system.

These centers shall be the repository of all human
rights concerns at the provincial level, and shall,
among others, monitor compliance with international
treaty obligations and national legislation on human
rights for the purpose of ensuring the proper
enforcement of laws and observance of international
obligations at the local level.

The creation of the HRRCs is embodied in Senate Bill
1160 which Pimentel filed amid the outrage by the
Filipino people and the international community over
the spate of extra-judicial killings of political
activists and journalists that badly reflects on the
government insofar as its duty of safeguarding human
rights is concerned.

“The protection of human rights promotes the dignity
of every individual. It is one of the challenges that
we have to face as a nation,” Pimentel said.

“Only through the fulfillment of this goal can we
truly claim that indeed, democracy is alive in this
country and if our people are to enjoy the freedoms
and rights enshrined in the Constitution.”

Under SB 1160, the HRRCs shall be attached to the
Office of the Governor in every province but the
planning, policy-making and implementation shall be
done with transparency and accountability.

However, the regional office of the Commission on
Human Rights (CHR), the Office of Provincial
Prosecutor, the Office of the Provincial Commander of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Office of
the Provincial Director of the Philippine National
Police shall collaborate and coordinate in ensuring
the effective operation of the HR Resource Centers
including, but not limited to, the mobilization of
resources and the provisions of technical support.

At the operational level, the Human Rights Resource
Centers shall be headed by a volunteer lawyer from the
Integrated Bar of the Philippines with support staff
composed of volunteer students of law schools who are
rendering paralegal services as part of their
curriculum requirements, people’s organizations and
non-government organizations with credibility in the
locality and independent of the local government.

As the repository of all human rights concerns at the
provincial level, the HRRCs shall set up a library of
international covenants and treaties to which the
Philippines is a signatory, has acceded to and
subsequently ratified.

In justifying the establishment of the Centers,
Pimentel stressed that the protection of human rights
is essential to any country that calls itself
democratic.

“Governments are bound by international and domestic
statutes to protect those rights. Internationally, the
concept of human rights is embodied in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights
documents and treaties that have following in its
wake,” he said.

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