An analysis on the expansion of the quasi-judicial function of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights

• Main Author: Ramos, Maria Pamela A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Human rights; Philippine Commission on Human Rights; Human Rights Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_law/21; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=etdm_law
• Institution: De La Salle University

Human Rights are inherent and inalienable, these are sacrosanct and inviolable, yet many desecrate and encroach upon other’s human rights. The Philippines is well acquainted with Human Rights violations, and it is continuously infringed in the Philippines, may it be economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights of an individual or as a collective. But the transgression has never been so predominant since the rise to power of Rodrigo Roa Duterte. In 1987, The Commission on Human Rights was constituted, as an independent office, by the Philippine Constitution to curtail human rights violations. The Commission is mandated to protect and promote the rights and dignity of the people of the Philippines and make sure that the State values and utmost respect the rights of every human person. One of its current main function its ability to investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights. But with the current legal and political climate of the country, the study aims to discuss whether or not there is a need to expand the powers of the Commission – specifically the power to hear and decide cases involving human rights. Individuals or groups threatened or prone to threats must be able to have readily available remedies to human rights violations. Using a qualitative research method and thematic analysis, the researcher went through laws, jurisprudence, principles and law journals, and also interviewed several experts on the field of Human Rights from civic society, the academe and the Philippine Commission on Human Rights itself to determine and evaluate the relevance of granting the expansion of powers of the Commission to expand its quasi-judicial functions.