Govt scores a first for RP human rights

For the first time, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday cited two officers of the Philippine Navy in contempt and imposed a P3,000 fine on each of them for their failure to attend several public inquiries of the commission into the forced disappearance of Muhamadiya Hamja. The Navy officers who were fined, the commission said in a statement, were Capt. Antonio Habulan and Bayani Gaerlan, both previous commanders of the Naval Intelligence and Security Force.

They repeatedly ignored multiple CHR orders to appear for four public hearings, which began on December 12, 2008. The two officers also failed to submit information required by the rights commission.

The CHR cited Habulan and Gaerlan in contempt on June 10 and ordered them to appear at an executive session on Friday with a warning that failure to do so would result in disciplinary measures for contempt.

But the Navy officers failed to show up or inform the rights commission in advance that they would not be able to attend.

“All military and law enforcement bodies have to observe human rights and have to cooperate with the CHR, which has the constitutional mandate to investigate possible human rights violations including when officers in uniform are implicated,” said Commissioner Cecilia Quisumbing, the officer in charge of the CHR, in the statement.

The commission said that their sanctioning Habulan and Gaerlan would send a strong message to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and all other security, law enforcement and intelligence institutions and personnel of the government that the CHR is determined to fully investigate complaints of violations and will not tolerate any delaying or obstructing tactics, such as repeated non-attendance of inquiries or hearings, and failure to produce documents and information.

Lack of cooperation

The CHR said that government security agencies have not been cooperating with them for the past 22 years but they decided to exercise the power to cite persons in contempt only on Friday.

Quisumbing and Commissioners Ma. Victoria Cardona and Norberto de la Cruz agreed that it was time to impose some punitive measure because Habulan and Gaerlan were given enough notice to attend the hearings and to communicate their absences in advance.

The Supreme Court has ruled that “the CHR is constitutionally authorized to cite or hold any person in direct or indirect contempt” in the case of Simon, Jr. vs. Commission on Human Rights.

The CHR took on the case of Hamja’s disappearance after his son reported him missing on November 28, 2008. After the immediate dispatch of a CHR Quick Reaction Team, the victim was located at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) office in Camp Crame, Quezon City. An inquiry into Hamja’s case was then initiated.

As for other cases, Quisumbing said the CHR has beefed up the Jonas Burgos investigation with a special team, and set a July 16 hearing on the killing of Nathaniel Capitanea.

Quisumbing, former undersecretary for the Presidential Human Rights Committee from 2007 to 2008 said that the commission’s regional offices are also investigating the killings of journalist Jose Dagio, a radio commentator who was shot on Saturday night in Kalinga, and Fernando Baldomero, a town councilor who was shot in Iloilo on Monday morning. –Manila Times