“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
This biblical passage seems to be what the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) wanted to point out in its desire to include its agents “as watchdogs" in all the illegal drugs operations by law enforcers as envisioned in a bill filed in the House of Representatives.
House Bill No. 1011 filed by House Deputy Minority Leader Bernadette Herrera proposed the presence of CHR agents to assure compliance to human rights in the operations against illegal drugs.
But the CHR said that while it lauds the proposal, lack of manpower would prevent the commission from fulfilling its task once the bill becomes a law.
CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann de Guia said that the CHR has 16 regional offices mostly located in regional centers. Each CHR regional office only has an average of eight to 10 investigators handling several allegations of human rights, ranging from civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights, she said.
"With the drug operations amounting to thousands, it would not be possible for CHR investigators to take part in each and every drug operation without compromising the rest of the CHR’s mandate," she explained.
Since the CHR cannot join the drug operations, De Guia said the commission should beef up its "capacity-building initiatives" with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies.
“So even if there are no CHR agents to serve as watchdogs in police operations, Filipinos can feel confident that the police will respect the rule of law and champion human rights,” she said.
"It is for this reason that we equally envision a highly professionalized police force that is both skillful in matters of law enforcement and is also well-versed in laws and protocols to reduce, if not totally eliminate, the instances of abuse and violations of human rights," she added.
She pointed out that the "CHR is always willing and able to partner with PNP in this regard."
At the same time, De Guia said the CHR is looking forward to positive changes in the police force operations against illegal drugs and other peace-keeping activities given the recent PNP leadership’s pronouncements on reforms.