When the House of Representatives voted 119 against 32 last Tuesday to give only P1, 000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights for 2018, it showed that stupidity is not the monopoly of its speaker.
Lambasted in social media, some of the congressmen who voted “Yes” have started explaining their vote and they all showed their ignorance of the mandate of the CHR just like Alvarez.
Alvarez lambasted the CHR for not running after those who killed the policemen, military and government officials.
“Kailangan nilang protektahan at pangalagaan ang karapatang pantao ng sinuman, di lang isang sektor, di lang sa karapatang pantao ng mga kriminal, pati ang innocent victims. Kumikibo lang sila kapag against the military, against the police, against government officials. Hindi naman ganun ang mandato nila. Ang mandato nila ay lahat ng karapatang pantao ay protektahan nila at pangalagaan,” he said.
Actually, Alvarez and the 119 congressmen who voted to strangle CHR by withholding funding , are not the only ones who are misinformed of the role of the Human Rights Commission. They are actually only echoing the ignorance that President Duterte has been articulating in many of his speeches.