By Rorie R. Fajardo
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project

It is a shame to hear that the Commission on Human Rights, despite the taxing demand it now faces amid unsolved and continuing cases of extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, and disappearances, is getting a mere pittance from the country’s PhP 1.4 trillion (USD 29.1 billion) budget for this year.

The CHR, according to an Inquirer.net news report, was originally asking for 100 percent increase of its PhP 253-million (USD 5.2 million) budget proposed by the Office of the President. The budget, CHR chair Leila De Lima said, would be used to develop a PhP 35-million (USD 729 million) forensic center to strengthen its investigating and monitoring powers, and to train forensic investigators.

But the Congress approved only a little over the PhP 253 million budget, which would only go to salaries and operating expenses of CHR personnel. This would not even cover the CHR’s need to rent new space as the building where it now stays along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City is already condemned.

The Congress’ decision to close the coffers from CHR came at one of the most distressing times for human rights in the Philippines. A week before the President signed into law the 2009 budget, 20-year-old teacher Rebelyn Pitao was abducted, tortured, raped and killed in Davao by alleged military agents to pressure her father, New People’s Army leader Parago, to surrender. Rebelyn’s body was found in a watery ditch in Davao del Norte the following day.

Days later, on March 9, South Cotabato anti-mining activist Eleazer “Boy” Billanes was gunned down by motorcycle-riding men in Koronadal City. Human rights advocates point to the military and the Xtrata-owned Sagittarius Mining in Tampakan, South Cotabato as the culprits and the NPA vowed to seek justice for the slain activist.

And during these times, vigilante-style killings of petty criminals in Davao City remained unabated that prompted CHR to hold public hearings between March 30 and 31. Prominent cases of desaparecidos – Jonas Burgos, James Balao, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno among others – remained unsolved.

Not to mention that the Philippines was ranked as the 6th among 14 countries where journalists have been killed, said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists in its 2009 Global Impunity Index . Media killings remained unsolved and the judicial system here has been ineffective in bringing justice, the group said.

One could not help but ask: couldn’t our legislators see, feel or hear the urgency in doing something for human rights now? Couldn’t they know that the pattern of impunity continues in our land – alarming ironically the international community, not our leaders who still deny that we have a deplorable human rights situation in the country – mainly because we score poorly in bringing the perpetrators (from the masterminds down to the triggermen) to justice?

It is seemingly only because of an increase in foreign funding that the CHR is able to do its mandate. It has consistently received support from the European Union, the United Nations, the US government, and other international donors.

The Congress’ decision actually mocks the Philippine government’s cheerleading attempt to establish a human rights body within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The European Commission reportedly even “lauded” the government for this and granted PhP 57 million (USD 1.18 million) for a human rights website.

For all the concern about the New People’s Army propaganda victories, the administration missed a perfect PR opportunity of its own – they could have shown they were ‘deadly’ serious about addressing human rights by agreeing to the CHR budget request.

Now the shame turns into rage when we see what parts in our trillion-peso budget got the biggest shares:

* The Department of Public Works and Highways, which got the second biggest share in the budget, amounting to PhP130 billion (USD 2.7 billion). The budget even increased by more than a fourth from its 2008 budget despite recent World Bank reports of corruption in road projects.

* The Department of Agriculture, which got the 4th biggest share in the budget, amounting to PhP 41 billion (USD 854 million). The department allegedly released in 2004 and 2007 funds to bankroll Arroyo’s presidential campaign kitty and support her political allies, respectively.

* 24 senators who would get PhP 200 million (USD 4.1 million) each, and 238 House members, PhP 70 million (USD 1.4 million) each, as Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as ‘pork barrel.’ This brings to a total of PhP 21.4 billion (USD 446 million).

As of this writing, families of the disappeared continue to search for their loved ones. Colleagues of slain journalists continue to report on the unsolved murders among their ranks. Communities of land reform and anti-mining activists continue to fear for retaliation from opposing companies or landlords and their agents. And the mothers and spouse of victims of extrajudicial killings try to find answers to their kin’s senseless deaths.

Let us hope not that our country’s leaders find the urgency of pouring support for human rights only when their own son, daughter, husband or wife experiences the same fate.