In the midst of left and right controversies faced by Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a member of the Catholic Church urges CHR Chairman Chito Gascon to just resign from his post.
Former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said that Gascon should voluntarily quit his job as he is not performing well.
The former Lingayen-Dagupan bishop said this is because the incumbent CHR Chairman has not given fair attention on other human rights violation cases happening in the Philippines the moment he started his term.
He also wonders why the CHR didn’t give much interest on the recent death of two teenagers slain in Caloocan City. Oscar noted that he only saw the presence of Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) led by Atty. Persina Acosta extending a helping hand to the family of the victims.
“Nasan kayo? Ang dami-daming kababalaghan nangyayari dito. Patayan dito, patayan doon. Nasan kayo? Ano ang ginagawa niyo?” he said.
Although Bishop Cruz is a known critic of Duterte administration’s war on drugs, the bishop also showed his support over the Congress’ decision to cut the agency’s 2018 budget from P687-million down to P1,000.
He emphasized that the short budget should give CHR a “wake-up call” to perform their mandate in the government.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez suggested that if Chairman Gascon would step down his post, all commissioners in the agency must also follow.
He said, “That’s only right (for them to resign). We should appoint commissioners who understand their mandate. If they think that they’re there solely to check on human rights violations by the government, they’re wrong because they have not read the provisions of the Constitution.”
Alvarez added that Gascon should by now be ashamed of his performance as CHR chair, “When everyone is saying that you are not doing your job, you should already be ashamed of yourself. He has no shame. You’re not even doing your job and you expect a salary from the government,” he added.
But despite numerous calls for his resignation, Gascon remains firm that he will not resign as it will only weaken the CHR’s force “Under this set of circumstances, where the Congress would respond to an independent constitutional office in this way and threaten it with a reduction of its budget on the pretext of asking me to resign would lead to essentially making the institution forever (at) the mercy of politics,” Gascon said.
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