Human Rights in the Philippines

Today, the world experiences numerous changes, and it corresponds to increased

public attention on human rights. The spread of democracy across the globe explains
this latest occurrence, and countries like our country Philippines are making broader
attempts to ensure access and protection of human rights. This is noticeable in
reproductive health rights where many Filipino people have welcomed changes in this
sector. Following the legislation of the Reproductive Health Law of 2012, it is apparent
that this country has made tremendous steps in guaranteeing its population access to
sexual education, maternal care, contraceptives, and fertility control reproductive
services. Even though access to reproductive health services became a fundamental
human right in this country Philippines, apparently controversy surrounds the role of
government and private companies in distributing reproductive health services.

According to the transcript provided, it appears that violation of human rights is a

common occurrence in Philippines, and this is demonstrated by the proliferation of
advocacy groups and organizations that criticize violation of human rights by the
government. In the country, women are the worst victims of reproductive health rights
violations and advocacy groups are closely working with urban poor women, women in
rural areas, and female oriented youth organizations, women from the indigenous
community, and indigenous people. The stakeholders deal with various issues related to
women rights such as violence against women, child labor, sexual and reproductive
health, and women’s certification.

In order to realize their objectives simultaneously, advocacy groups implement their

core programs. Sustainability, networking, local and national outreach are examples of
programs initiated by various organizations. The impact that such organizations have on
a community and society is immeasurable. This is because an increased
interrelationship between their pursued objectives makes it problematic to distinguish
their activities from other community service activities. Advocacy and promotion of
human rights in the Philippines began many decades ago when women organizations
such as EDSA and Gabriela employed varied approaches in realizing a common
objective.

The radical nature of Gabriela organization is explained by the increased violation of

women rights that characterized society at this time. This coalition of Filipino women
confronted the government and employed violence to communicate their intended
message. However, advocacy groups today have adopted diplomatic approaches to
achieve their goals of protecting and safeguarding human rights, particularly the rights
of women in the Philippines. Organizations like DSWP are part of the democratic family
and do not agree on struggling against the state. They associate radicalism with
politically inclined motives, and these organizations are government agents that need to
sustain the status quo. Increased decline of radical organizations such as Gabriella has
led to consolidation of the social democratic advocacy groups and expansion of
preexisting organizations. For instance, DSWP grew after the collapse of Gabriella, but
continued to work with Gabriella under a collaborative framework to achieve their
objectives.

The consequences of conducting such analyses are the significance in exposing the
state of human rights in various countries around the world. Moreover, it is important in
illustrating the differences between nations in terms of human rights violations, and
identifying the various areas of human rights that are consistently violated in today’s
society. In doing so, the transcript demonstrates reproductive health rights debates
characterizing modern society, and identifies how advocacy groups and organizations
struggle to ensure respect for human rights.

Human Rights Violation in the Philippines

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with
reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Human rights describe equal rights and freedom for everybody by the fact of being
human and without distinction of any kind of race, color, sex, language, religion, political
or other opinions. However, many people have always suffered from the lack of them
throughout history. In fact, the lack of human rights has a lot of effects on people lives.
Human rights is defined as the rights as freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture,
and execution and regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons. Another
definition for …show more content…
The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act
of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium
used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the
right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement
to commit a crime, etc. The right to freedom of expression is recognized as a human
right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in
international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR). Article 19 of the ICCPR states that "[e]veryone shall have the right to hold
opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of
expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of
art, or through any other media of his choice".
Human rights is a concept that has been constantly evolving throughout human history.

CHR as a Constitutional Commission

Under the Article IX of the 1987 Constitution, three constitutional commissions were
established namely: the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), the Civil Service
Commission (CSC), and the Commission on Audit (COA). The Commission on Human
Rights (CHR), on the other hand, was created under the Article XIII, Section 17 of the
1987 constitution and the Administrative Code of 1987.

In a Resolution of the Supreme Court contained in G.R. No. 155336, it ruled that the
CHR is a .."constitutional body enjoying limited fiscal autonomy..

History:
After the ratification of the 1987 Philippine Constitution on 2 February 1987, which
provides for the establishment of a Commission on Human Rights, President Corazon
Aquino, signed Executive Order No. 163 on May 5, 1987, creating the Commission on
Human Rights and abolished the Presidential Committee on Human Rights. The
Commission was created as an independent office mandated to investigate complaints
of human rights violations, promote the protection of, respect for and the enhancements
of the people's human rights including civil and political rights.

Duterte administration
On 24 July 2017 during his State of the Nation Address (SONA), Philippine president
Rodrigo Duterte said that the commission was "better abolished." The CHR responded
in a statement that only a change to the 1987 Constitution could possibly abolish it.

On the evening of 12 September 2017, the House of Representatives of the Philippines

voted 119-32 to give the CHR a budget of only ₱1,000 for the entire year of 2018,
which, if made law, would effectively abolish the commission. The commission had
reportedly asked Congress for a budget of ₱623,380,000, and it condemned the vote.
As of 13 September 2017, the budget had not been finalized and was still subject to
further amendment before approval by the Senate of the Philippines and by the
President.[9] If the Senate rejects the proposed CHR budget, such action will trigger a
bicameral committee made of members of both houses to resolve the dispute.

The Commission derives its mandates from the Constitution, relevant domestic laws,
and the eight core International Human Rights Instruments to which the Philippines is a
State Party, as well as other United Nations Human Rights Conventions newly
enforced.
Under Section 18, Article XIII of the Philippine Constitution, the Commission's sole duty
is to protect the civil and political rights of citizens in the Philippines.
Based on the Philippine Constitution, the Commission has a broad mandate, which can
be categorized into three major functional areas:

 Human Rights Protection - Investigation and case management of complaints of

violations, including all the powers and services in aid of investigation, of civil and
political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights. Such powers and
services include: citing for contempt for violations of its rules of procedure; legal aid
and counseling; visitorial powers over jails and detention facilities; application of
forensic techniques in aid of investigation; witness protection; and, financial
assistance to victims[11]
 Human Rights Promotion, which includes the wide range of strategies for policy,
advocacy, promotion, social mobilization, education, training, public information,
communication, research, networking and linkages [11]
 Human Rights Policy Advisory derived from monitoring government’s compliance
with the treaty obligations that the Philippines has acceded to: International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention Against Torture and
Other Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention Against Racial
Discrimination (CERD), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on
the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families (CMW); Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This also includes the entire aspect of
monitoring and evaluating the performance of the Executive, Legislative, and
Judiciary to translate international human rights standards into national policies,
laws, and practice.