The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) joins the country in mourning the loss of lives in the recent devastating earthquake that struck Cebu and nearby provinces on Tuesday night, 30 September 2025.

As we stand in solidarity with government agencies and civil society organizations in their gargantuan efforts of rescue and relief, we particularly support all relief and rehabilitation for vulnerable groups such as the persons with disabilities, the sick, the children and youth, the elderly, and the socio-economically disadvantaged.

With the realities of competing priorities and needs of Filipinos at large, the conditions and infrastructure for early warning and preparedness for vulnerable groups are not often adequate, such that in the event of disasters, those belonging in the vulnerable groups can be left behind to fend for themselves.

CHR underscores that the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGPID) provide that persons displaced by natural disasters have the right to protection, assistance, and durable solutions that respect their dignity and human rights. The UNGPID provides that the State holds the primary duty to provide assistance during displacement, and to ensure support through the stages of return, resettlement, and reintegration, in the shared responsibility among other humanitarian actors.

In this light, the Commission calls on government agencies and the private sector involved in humanitarian efforts on the ground to ensure that responses for the persons with disabilities, the sick, the children and youth, the elderly, and the socio-economically disadvantaged be well-considered, culturally-sensitive, and timely. Let us allow the human rights lens to guide our disaster relief to the vulnerable groups, in particular, so that can we, as a society, claim that we are indeed keepers of even the less privileged.###