THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 7 has urged local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas to establish the Human Rights Action Centers (HRACs) in their areas.
This is in line with the CHR and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 1, Series of 2014 entitled, “Mainstreaming Human Rights through the Rule of Law and Access to Justice at the Levels of Provinces, Cities, Municipalities, and Barangays,” which mandates the establishment of HRACs in barangays, municipalities, cities, and provinces.
CHR-7 chief of Policy, Promotions, and Advocacy Division, Jose Augustus G. Villano, said LGUs are required to establish human rights committees and action centers to address human rights issues, including violations, promotion, and advocacy.
However, data from CHR-7 shows a significant gap in the establishment of HRACs in Central Visayas.
According to Villano, out of 16 cities in the region, only three have established HRACs, namely, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu and Bais City in Negros Oriental.
Of the 116 towns, only three have complied, namely, Catmon, Pinamungajan, and Daanbantayan in Cebu.
For the barangays, only the following have established HRACs: 27 in Mandaue City, 8 in Lapu-lapu City, and 20 each in Catmon and Daanbantayan towns, all in Cebu.
BETTER, MORE EFFECTIVE RESPONSE
During the Regional Development Council Development Administration Committee (RDC-DAC) 4th quarter meeting on Nov. 12, Villano said LGUs can help identify, refer, and act on human rights cases more effectively, facilitating better coordination with law enforcement and government agencies.
“We are requesting the creation of human rights action teams at the different levels of the government, provincial, city and municipality to ensure that it will operationalize a human rights-based manner that can undergo capacitation on human rights based on the local services delivery and governance,” he said.
“Once we have the barangay human rights action centers or the LGU level action centers, these action centers will be able to identify which cases are attainable under the human rights violations or can be referred to the right agencies. For instance, the PNP or the agencies of the government,” he added.
Villano also recommended the inclusion of the implementation of HRACs as a performance indicator in the Social Protection and Sensitivity Program criterion of DILG’s Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).
“One of the implementing rules and regulations of the SGLG Act enumerated the indicators for the social protection and sensitivity program criterion which includes the provision of access to justice by the LGU. This JMC is aimed to increase or include in the access to justice by constituents of the LGUs,” he said.
The RDC-DAC, presided by National Economic and Development Authority 7 regional director Jennifer C. Bretaña as the RDC-DAC vice chair, approved the recommendations of the two CHR resolutions to be endorsed to the Central Visayas RDC Full Council on Dec. 3 in Bohol.
Currently, the CHR continues to advocate for the operational realization of HRACs in all LGUs in Central Visayas by working closely with local officials and civil society organizations to bridge the gap in human rights protection. (Marifel Faith Hammond /PIA7)
