SEN. Ronald “Bato”dela Rosa, heading a Finance subcommittee examining the 2022 budget, on Monday endorsed to the Senate plenary the P867.251-million proposed outlay for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), whose head he had often engaged during his time as chief of the National Police tasked to lead the war on drugs.
At the end of the subcommittee hearing that had Chairman Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon defending his agency’s budget, Sen. Nancy Binay moved to endorse the appropriation, to cover both the CHR and a proposed Human Rights Victims Memorial Commission.
The dynamic between dela Rosa and Gascon was cordial all throughout, with the senator noting toward the end that in his three years at the Senate, he had always supported full endorsement of the CHR budget, even though, as then-PNP chief, he tangled occasionally with Gascon. The CHR was swamped since 2016 by families alleging the extrajudicial killings of relatives tagged as drug suspects.
Gascon confirmed that, yes, Dela Rosa, when he became senator, never tried to block their budget.
An interesting sidelight was a long exchange between the former top policeman and the human-rights advocate regarding the looming International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into alleged EJKs in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, where dela Rosa is implicated along with the President.
The senator told Gascon he has never shirked any investigation on his accountability, and had supported all inquiries into cases where policemen were accused of violating rights while fighting drug suspects.
However, he stressed, “I’d rather be tried, convicted, even hanged before a Filipino court rather than be tried, convicted and hanged by a foreign court. Siguro naman [I would think], it’s part of my human right.”
Gascon responded by reminding Dela Rosa, “we don’t have the death penalty here. Nor does ICC have a death penalty.” So, Dela Rosa said, “okay, incarcerated forever after being convicted of crimes under ICC.” That, he said, is acceptable if it’s a judgment by a local court.
However, Gascon explained that a “core fundamental principle of ICC is complementarity—it is deferential [to states].” He elaborated: “If it believes under its own assessment, that a state itself has a workable justice system” or “is able, willing . . . to hold accountable the perpetrators of serious crime, then its approach is not to proceed.”
A pillar of ICC principles is also to uphold both the rights of alleged victims and of the accused, he added.
The important thing, Gascon added, “is for us to show that the Philippine government is serious . . .And the unique opportunity we have is this agreement,” referring to the Rome Statute which the Philippines ratified, signalling its membership in the ICC.
The Duterte government pulled out of the ICC in 2019, but a recent order by an ICC pretrial unit gave clearance to proceed with an investigation into EJK allegations in the Philippines, covering incidents between 2016 when Duterte was elected, and 2019, up till the time the Philippines’s pullout became effective.
The CHR chief reported that “about 3,000” cases from parties alleging rights violations in the war on drugs have reached his agency and are being investigated. However, he said, they did not receive any request from ICC requesting their help, and they will not offer such.
Gascon stressed the need is “for us to show our legal system operates in a way that is consistent with national and international standards.”
Dela Rosa countered, “there’s no need for us to show that our system is not working. Problem is, the ICC keeps believing” biased sources. “Chances are, he added, they will just be dictating the words from…those that alleged crimes against humanity.”
Before moving to have Dela Rosa’s subcommittee endorse CHR’s P867.251-million budget for plenary, Binay sought details of the Human Rights Victims Memorial Commission. Gascon said this was to be a memorial, museum and archive, and funds for construction have partly been released by the Treasury.
Also at the hearing, Sen. Francis Tolentino urged Gascon to make sure CHR weighs in on vital constitutional issues in the way the government, especially the IATF, crafts policies in pandemic.
The workers’ rights to make a living have been infringed for so long on account of the lockdowns, and it’s time to revisit that, said Tolentino. Same with the freedom to worship in churches, and the right to a sound educational system via face-to-face learning.
Tolentino reminded Gascon that “Undas,” or the annual observance of All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day, will soon be coming, and CHR should take up the cudgels for people who want to exercise their right to pay respects to their dead, while observing health protocols.