CHR: No due process in beauty queen's case

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chair Leila de Lima expressed concern yesterday over how Binibining Pilipinas-Universe Maria Venus Raj was dethroned without being given the chance to give her side.

De Lima said she is concerned over the issue of due process when people in Raj’s hometown in Camarines Sur complained that she was just stripped of her title.

She learned of the Raj issue when she went home to Iriga City last Holy Week.

“People find it unfair that she was just dethroned. Due process is involved. They should have made her explain the apparent inconsistencies (in her birth certificate),” De Lima told The STAR.

Organizers of Binibining Pilipinas reportedly disqualified Raj because she told reporters during an interview after she won that she was born in Doha, Qatar and her father is an Indian citizen.

Her birth certificate, however, showed that she was born in Camarines Sur.

The inconsistencies about her birth record prompted pageant organizers to question Raj’s citizenship since only Filipino citizens are allowed to join the Binibining Pilipinas pageant.

De Lima said she also learned that Raj was born out of wedlock, which means that she is a Filipina because Philippine law automatically gives the child the citizenship of the mother, who hails from Camarines Sur.           – With Celso Amo