To help get a clearer picture of the country’s human rights record amid the drug war, newly appointed Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has proposed the creation of a center that will monitor cases involving human rights violations.

Roque said the proposed “National Human Rights Monitoring Center” must be “neutral” and devoid of politicking while gathering factual data on cases of alleged rights abuses linked to the anti-drug campaign.

“Imumungkahi ko pa rin ‘no kung kanino man na magtalaga talaga ng National Human Rights Monitoring Center (I will still propose the creation of the National Human Rights Monitoring Center),” Roque said in a radio interview.

“Kasi kung wala tayong objective at neutral na monitoring center ‘no para magtalaga noong mga numero, hindi natin mabibigyan ng solusyon (Because if we don’t have an objective and neutral monitoring center to gather the numbers, we cannot provide the appropriate solution),” he said.

Roque, a Kabayan party-list lawmaker, recalled that the rights data center was proposed several years ago, but never got off the ground because of opposition of then Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chief Leila de Lima.

De Lima, currently detained on drug charges, had wanted the CHR to take the lead in such an effort, but some groups allegedly felt the agency was engaged in politicking. Roque said he was even in favor of turning the University of Philippines Law Center into the human rights monitoring center.

At present, Roque said the situation is in disarray due to lack of correct information on the human rights cases.

He noted that even the judiciary does not have data on human rights cases, which have been resolved or are still pending in courts.

“Pati doon sa mga National Prosecution Office, wala rin silang pigura (Even in the National Prosecution Office, they don’t have the figures),” he said.

He said proper data collection must begin with the Philippine National Police (PNP) since it has the record of persons killed or hurt in their operations. He said they must also make proper definition of terms before collecting the data related to human rights.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Genalyn D. Kabiling

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]