The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) welcomes the deployment of these ‘human rights officers’ by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the upcoming 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA). We expect them to lead in protecting the rights of all, especially the right of the people peaceably to assemble as a legitimate means to ask the government for redress of grievances. This is a protected right as embodied in the 1987 Constitution, as well as in other laws, such as Batas Pambansa Bilang 880.

We hope that human rights does not become as a special function reserved to only a few police officers and limited during instances of great need, such as SONA demonstrations. As a duty-bearer, the call is for each and every officer of the law to put human rights as core guiding principles in every conduct and becomes a human rights officer—in instances of arrests, searches, investigations, and in formulating peace and order initiatives—for the general welfare of all Filipinos.

CHR will continue to reach out to PNP on how the government can improve the protection and promotion of human rights in the country. For our part, CHR officers shall also be deployed on Monday, 22 July 2019, to monitor the situation on the ground as part of its mandate as an independent national human rights institution. ###