The House Committee on Human Rights has begun work on a legislative agenda that Committee Chairperson and Manila 6th District Rep. Benny Abante, Jr. said would reflect a rights-based approach to legislation that seeks to address issues such as extra judicial killings, the red-tagging of human rights advocates, disinformation campaigns, and many other forms of human rights violations in the country.
“It is with great honor and pride that this Representation formally commences the legislative work of the Committee on Human Rights for the 19th Congress,” said the lawmaker on Tuesday, who was joined in the committee’s first organizational meeting by Committee Senior Vice Chair Manila 4th District Rep. Edward V. Maceda and Committee Vice Chair CIBAC Party List Rep. Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva.
At the meeting, Abante also thanked major government stakeholders “for their tireless efforts in support of human rights legislation” and for their active participation in the committee’s meetings and activities in past congresses.
“I warmly welcome the honorable members of this Committee who have readily signified their intentions to join me,” said Abante, “as we engage the broad human rights community not only in enacting human rights laws, but also in pushing for advocacies that promote, protect and fulfill human rights obligations, both at the international and domestic spheres.”
Abante, a two-time chairperson of the Committee, stressed that its legislative priorities in the 19th Congress “would definitely bear the mark of a rights-based approach to legislation.”
Among the measures the Committee will prioritize are the Right to Adequate Food Framework, the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Act, An Act Prohibiting Racial, Ethnic and Religious Discrimination, and Protection of the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.
Also part of the Committee’s agenda are the Human Rights Defenders’ Protection Act, the Magna Carta on Religious Freedom, National Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and OPCAT Implementation and Strengthening.
Abante stressed during the Committee’s inaugural meeting that he has not and will not “tolerate any act, directly or indirectly, which transgresses human rights.”
Abante, a two-time chairperson of the Committee, stressed that its legislative priorities in the 19th Congress “would definitely bear the mark of a rights-based approach to legislation.”
“As a pro-life advocate, I have always maintained that the rights to life, liberty and property are the bedrock of human rights,” he said.
The solon explained that as articulated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Oft-repeated principles of human rights complement this Declaration: human rights are universal, inalienable, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.”
At the meeting, Abante also thanked major government stakeholders “for their tireless efforts in support of human rights legislation” and for their active participation in the committee’s meetings and activities in past congresses.
Among the agencies acknowledged by the veteran legislator were the Commission on Human Rights, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the AFP Center for Law of Armed Conflict, the Philippine National Police, the PNP Human Rights Affairs Office, and the Presidential Human Rights Committee.
