A total of 119 lawmakers supported the motion of Sagip Party-List Rep. Rodante Marcoleta to give the CHR a P1,000 budget on Tuesday. He recalled that during his time as an Army commander, he invited CHR officials to lecture on human rights before soldiers. “We have human rights officers in our units already, we have human rights officers in every unit of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) down to the company, battalion, so [as of now], they are the ones lecturing our soldiers,” Lorenzana explained. “If you will look into the military’s record for the past couple of years, we have very few cases of human rights violations,” he added. “Checks and balances can’t be achieved in the absence of the Commission on Human Rights,” Espenido said in a meeting with the Liga ng mga Barangay Mindanao Chapter.

Source: Manila Times September 14, 2017 09:33 UTC