The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) headquarters (Manila Bulletin)

Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Khalid Dimaporo acknowledged on Tuesday, Sep. 3, that the annual budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was affected by “political backlash” during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“I’m a third-termer congressman, and I was here in the two previous Congresses. From what I remember, CHR had to suffer political setbacks in the previous administration,” Dimaporo said during the agency’s budget deliberations before the House Committee on Appropriations.

During Duterte' term from 2016 to 2022, the CHR was a strong critic to the administration, particularly when it came to the controversial war on drugs and its alleged human rights violations.

In one instance, in 2018, the agency’s budget experienced a massive dip in allocations when it only received P693 million. The CHR originally proposed an outlay of P1.6 billion for that year.

Then-House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez even proposed to give the agency a budget of P1,000 for supposedly not doing its mandate.

Former president Duterte even threatened to abolish the CHR for investigating the alleged violations; he later said that it was merely a joke.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the commission is mandated to investigate all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights. It is also mandated to protect and promote the rights and dignity of every human being in the country.

“From what I remember, we decreased your budget around 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020,” Dimaporo recalled.

While not directly addressing the impact of this supposed politicking in the commission’s budget, CHR Chairperson Richard Palpal-latoc said congressional insertions—or amendments made by lawmakers—help augment their budget.

Under the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the CHR has been earmarked with P1.1 billion. This is an increase from its P981-million funding for the current year.

This “political backlash” may no longer exist given that both minority and majority lawmakers have not only expressed support for the agency’s proposed budget, but also vouched for additional funding.

“But before the previous administration, what was the original budget of the CHR?” asked Dimaporo.

“Because it should not only increase the CHR’s budget, it should be restore the CHR’s budget, prior to this political backlash against the CHR in the previous administration,” the solon added.

With this, Dimaporo urged the commission to send a copy of its budget before the Duterte administration so that the committee can gauge even further the appropriate amount of funding.

“Send a copy to the committee secretariat so that this committee can study whether or not the amount allocated P920+ million is fair. It will help us give some sort of bearings,” he explained.