GASCON
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte may have asked him to “shut up” and called him an idiot, but Jose Luis Martin Gascon, the intrepid chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), has no plans of quitting even as a matter of courtesy.
“That would mean we lose our independence,” he told the Inquirer.
Gascon has a seven-year term as chair of the CHR, an independent constitutional body; thus, he is not part of the President’s Cabinet and under no compulsion to turn in a courtesy resignation, unlike members of the official family.
“The CHR is a constitutional office. If there’s a reorganization… the process of removing the CHR will have to be done according to the Constitution,” he said.
He began his term in May last year, replacing Loretta Ann Rosales. This means that unless Duterte forcefully tries to remove him or appoint somebody in his place, Gascon may well remain in office for the duration of the President-elect’s term — until May 2022.
Gascon, however, added that the question of whether he would resign was still premature, as Duterte had not expressed any such wish in public.
Asked what he would do if Duterte did try to replace him, the CHR chair was unperturbed, saying: “I will fight it.”
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the CHR’s four-and-a-half year project with Spain’s Agencia Española de Cooperacion International para el Desarrollo (AECID), Gascon addressed the “hopes and threats” presented by the approaching Duterte administration.
“We will deal with events and facts as they unfold,” he said.
“If the events and facts suggest that there’s repression rather than protection of human rights, CHR is prepared to stand firm in defense of the promotion and fulfillment of human rights for all people,” Gascon said.