CHR-7 unfazed by Speaker Alvarez’s ‘zero budget’ threat

The Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) will continue to investigate cases of abuses referred to their office even if this would mean loss of their office allocation coming from the national government.

Lawyer Arvin Ordon, CHR-7 director, said it is their office mandate to advocate especially for the rights of ordinary citizens against abuses by those in government.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier said that if he were to have his way, he will make sure that CHR will not get any allocation from the national government for protecting the interest of criminals who become victims of extrajudicial killings.

Ordon said during the 888 forum held in a Cebu City hotel on Tuesday that they are getting an allocation of P200,000 per quarter to take care of their Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).

If they no longer get national aid, Ordon said, that would mean that they will have to close down their office.

But until this happens, he said, they will continue to comply with their mandate of protecting the people against any forms of abuses by those who are in power.

CHR-7 is now investigating 61 cases that were referred to their office from May 2016 to July 2017. All of the cases that they are now handling are related to the police’s anti-drugs campaign.

Of these cases, four were already resolved, 33 are already for resolution while 24 others remain under investigation.

He said that on Monday, they received a memorandum from their head office directing them to continue the investigation on law enforcement-related killings.