CHR to government: Justify ‘1017’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urged the government yesterday to justify to the public the issuance of Proclamation No. 1017 placing the entire country under a state of national emergency.

In questioning the sweeping ban on rallies, the CHR en banc urged the government to show that there is indeed a clear and present danger to justify Proclamation 1017.

Ed Diansuy, CHR information officer, said the government should not forget its commitment to human rights treaties, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in carrying out the President’s edict.

"The government should try its best to prove to the public the clear and present danger for issuing Proclamation 1017," he said.

However, the CHR has yet to decide whether Proclamation 1017 is unconstitutional.

The CHR en banc is expected to meet today to tackle the issue and release another advisory on the matter.

"Even with national emergency, the Constitution should still be observed and respected, especially the Bill of Rights," the CHR said.

The CHR reminded the government that warrantless arrest is illegal unless the subject is caught in the act of committing a crime.

"While it (ICCPR) allows the unilateral derogation from a part of each obligation thereto, the measure of derogation must be of an exceptional and temporary measure," the CHR said.

"The government must consider primordial, even in a state of emergency, the fundamental rights of the Filipino people, thus must be subjected a specific regime of safeguards where the restoration of state of normalcy must be the predominant objective.

"The government (should) manifest each commitment by demonstrating its compliance to the obligation set forth in (the ICCPR)."

The CHR said that the government should inform the United Nations about its declaration of a State of National Emergency.

The Philippines is a State Party to the ICCPR, which recognizes that the civil and political rights of a human being are rights derived from the inherent dignity of the human person. The Philippine government ratified the ICCPR on Jan. 3, 1976.

On Friday, Mrs. Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in the wake of alleged fresh attempts to topple her administration.

Proclamation 1017 was intended to defend and preserve "the democratic institutions and the State" amidst an alleged conspiracy between the opposition and the "extreme Left" to bring down the President. — Katherine Adraneda