One thousand peso bill
At the start of the week, I usually bring with me a trusty P1,000 bill for allowance to get me by. I sometimes use it to gas up my car, or to grab a drink or two at my favorite coffee shop. By Saturday, my one thousand pesos diminishes to a couple of bucks yet I have used it in the thriftiest way possible.
That's my one thousand. Imagine holding a P1,000 bill and giving it to the office responsible for upholding human rights in the country. How will a single blue colored paper suffice for a year's operation of nearly a hundred offices in the country? Impossible.
So the news that Congress appropriated P1,000 for the Commission on Human Rights came as a shock. It was absurd. It came as a shock to the CHR head in Negros Oriental, Dr. Jess Cañete. The day he heard about the budget, his blood pressure shot up and sent a text brigade to the media in Dumaguete city.
"Mani mo dihaa! Nia pod fishballs, empanada, linung-ag saging with uyap, pers kam pers serb. Mayna lang ipalit krudo ning halin..." (We are selling nuts! We also have fishballs, empanada, boiled egg with shrimp paste, first come first serve. At least we could buy gasoline from the income), was his form of sarcasm to the Congress' decision. Not contented with the message he sent out, he purposely put up on the office door a menu of other services and goods that CHR Negros Oriental can sell. Whenever vendors would pass by their hallway, he would call them and go on selling with them.
I could only imagine his frustrations and disappointments at the people whom he trusted to bring justice to the oppressed. In this province alone, he has helped over a hundred people in a year and has successfully filed about 20 cases. He goes directly to the area and conducts motu proprio investigation even if there is no complainant.
Without the CHR we will be forced to fight for our rights alone based on what we know and what we could do. There would be no bigger entity that would deepen the investigation and point out the lapses of government or its officials. Ordinary people will feel hopeless with nowhere to go.
The lawmakers have presented flimsy reasons why the budget cut for the CHR and restoring it seems to be helpless.
Why do they easily take the basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution? These lawmakers think they can control with their hands the way our country should be run. They are missing out the real mandate why they were elected into that office. It leads me to believe that sometimes too much power could lead to blindness.
It may be the lawmakers' way of sending a message to the commission, although no one is backing out without a proper fight.
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