The House of Representatives has acted on a motion by SAGIP Representative Rodante Marcoleta and decided to give the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) only P1,000 for its budget for the coming year.
As the legislators continued the marathon deliberation on the proposed budgets of different agencies for 2018 on Tuesday, September 12, 119 members of the House voted in favor of giving the CHR the measly budget while 32 legislators voted against it.
A day before, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez insisted that a P1,000 budget is sufficient for a government agency that is “not doing its job”.
“Hindi naman zero, pero P1,000. Kasi hindi nila ginagawa ‘yung trabaho nila. Yung mandato nila under the Constitution, hindi nila ginagawa. Ano ‘yun? Para protektahan ‘yung karapatang pantao ng lahat ng tao, hindi lang nung mga kriminal,” Speaker Alvarez said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday, September 11.
The CHR had been vocal about its concerns over the deaths linked to the ongoing war on drugs. The budget approved by the House of Representative will be forwarded to the Senate for another round of deliberations.
Last week, The House of Representatives reduced the proposed 2018 budget of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) from P351 million to P1,000 after Malacañang suspended ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar for insubordination.
Source: CNN Philippines, The Philippine Star
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