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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Tulfo bats for increase in CHR's confidential funds, says P1 million 'not enough'

Tulfo bats for increase in CHR's confidential funds, says P1 million 'not enough'

Published Sep 6, 2023 02:28 pm

Sen. Raffy Tulfo said on Wednesday, Sept. 6 that he supports the idea of increasing the confidential funds of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), stating that P1 million is not enough for the agency.

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Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo speaks with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday, Sept. 6. He asked the agency to focus more on fighting for the rights of victims of various abuses and crimes rather than protecting the rights of suspects. (Senate PRIB photo)

"Eh may mga agency sa gobyerno na hindi naman deserving ng confidential funds, hindi na ko magbabanggit (There are agencies in the government, but I will not name them that do not deserve confidential funds)," Tulfo said during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance.


Their discussion stemmed from Tulfo's claim that he wants to break the stigma against CHR that they're more focused on protecting suspects than victims.

"For all I care kapag mayroon diyang drug addict na nang-rape hayaan mo siya kung bugbugin siya nang pinong-pino ng mga pulis, hayaan niyo siyang tulungan na lang ng ibang agency (If there's a drug addict there that rapes someone, let the police beat him up, allow a different agency to help him)," Tulfo said.

CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann de Guia, however, assured the panel that the majority, or 90 percent of the clients it served belong to the vulnerable sector.

"Hindi lang po siguro nakakaabot sa publiko yung mga regular na programs and services po namin (Maybe our regular programs and services do not reach the public) but we do provide financial assistance to them, we also provide legal aid and assitance, we also investigate cases and we also assist them in the filing of cases," she added.

De Guia also stated that all of their services are focused on the vulnerable sector which includes financial assistance, legal advice, counseling, and investigation of cases.

"Sana po kung maibalik man lang sa P5 million (Hopefully it may be increased even up to P5 million)," De Guia said, when asked by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on how much they would need.

According to her, in 2018 and 2019, they were given P5 million worth of confidential funds which they fully utilized and by 2020 they got P1 million up to the present.

For the Fiscal Year 2024, CHR's proposed budget is P1.9 billion but for the National Expenditure Program (NEP) of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), they were only granted P900 million, slashing almost half of their proposed budget.

Related Tags

Senate committee on finance Commission on Human Rights Senator Jinggoy Estrada Senator Raffy Tulfo
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