The House of Representatives’ decision of allotting P1,000 for the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) budget next fiscal year drew a mixed bag of reactions among social media users.
Some thought this action was against the protection of human rights and a step forward to an authoritarian government.
Comedian and director Rodolfo “Jun” Sabayton, most known to Filipinos as “Bayaw” urged Filipinos to contribute P1,000 each for the CHR.
Spokesperson for former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III Abi Valte demanded everyone to call their representative about the CHR’s low budget.
Unhappy about the budget of the CHR?Call your district representative & demand an explanation.Write, email, fax. Do the same with senators.
— Abi Valte (@Abi_Valte) September 13, 2017
Some netizens also divided CHR’s budget to every Filipino to prove their point that the agency needs more money to perform their task of protecting human rights.
Sabihin nating 103.5M ang tao sa bansa.
Hatiin mo ang 1000 sa ganoon kadaming tao.PHP0.00000966183
Yan ang halaga ng karapatang pantao mo.— Mikey Cabotage (@mikecabotage) September 12, 2017
1000 pesos for 103,300,000 Filipinos
Let us never forget that for this government, our human rights are only worth Php 0.000009 apiece #CHR
— Angelo Silva (@juangelosilva) September 12, 2017
Others also injected humor into their concern about the budget.
Whew, Buti na lang nasapawan na ng 1k chr budget ang tungkol sa tattoo ni pulong at 6.4 bilyon na shabu.
Good job reangling this, lei.
— Honest Duterte (@HonestDuterte) September 12, 2017
Mga mabilis maubos:
1. Wifi data ng Globe
2. Baguio Good Shepherd Ube Jam
3. Sweldo
4. Burger ng Angels Burger
5. Budget ng CHR— Ambula (@AmbulaArt) September 13, 2017
MAS MAHAL PA OOTD NI ISABELLE DUTERTE KESA SA KARAPATAN NATING LAHAT
— aj omg (@Aphorae) September 12, 2017
There were also netizens who praised the decision of the Congress.
Its alarming that some people are under the impression that they’d lose their human rights if the CHR shuts down.
— David Barua Yap II (@IAmDavidYapII) September 13, 2017
CHR is one of those redundant gov agencies that doesn’t even do a good job. In corp world, when you have a new CEO, it would be first to go
— ilda (@ilda_talk) September 12, 2017
many are asking how will CHR run w/o a budget. nobody’s asking how it was ran when it had budget. @iamkarendavila @ilda_talk @FSTopacio
— Mr. Burns (@MangBurns) September 13, 2017
Voting 119 to 32, the House of Representatives reduced CHR’s budget for the next fiscal year from P678 million P1,000.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez accused CHR of protecting criminals and failing to fulfill its constitutional duty of protecting the rights of all Filipinos.
In previous statements, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to abolish the commission as he continues to defend the police authorities after they were linked to human rights violations and extrajudicial killings.
However, he said that he had no say to the House’s decision to cut the CHR’s budget to P1,000.
