On 8 May 2024, Pres. Marcos Jr. signed Administrative Order no. 22 which is supposed to enhance mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines through the Special Committee on Human Rights Coordination. This coordinating committee will be chaired by the Office of the Executive Secretary and co-chaired by the Department of Justice (DOJ), with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as members, and the PHRC as the Secretariat.


The committee seemingly draws from the structure of the United Nations Joint Program (UNJP) as it adopts key areas addressed under the program which will end on 31 July 2024–3 years after its establishment. The UNJP was created in response to calls for accountability for prevalent human rights violations that occurred under the Duterte administration which were exacerbated by the War on Drugs.


One of the pivotal gains from it is the platform it provided for civil society groups to engage with government agencies to raise human rights concerns which was a significant challenge in the past. However, even with the program, human rights violations persisted due to anti-human rights structures such as the Anti-Terror Law, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and Tokhang still in practice.


From the time the government introduced the Human Rights Coordinating Committee, civil society was never consulted on its content and structure. Even as AO no. 22 claims to institutionalize a multi-stakeholder process, a government-led human rights committee poses a risk of the platform being co-opted to protect the government’s interest. The lack of consultation with civil society further shrinks civic space and impedes the protection and realization of human rights.


Issues like red-tagging, threats, harassment against activists, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations don't require new structures to resolve. What's necessary is political will and a commitment to enact reforms. The government already has the power and resources to address these challenges if they are truly serious about it.


Rather than creating another human rights committee, the President should instead focus on strengthening existing constitutional offices such as the Commission on Human Rights that is independent and mandated to strengthen and safeguard the realization of human rights in the Philippines.


Unless the government cooperates with the ICC as well as repeal anti-human rights structures such as the Anti-Terror Law and the NTF-ELCAC, its claims to support human rights and facilitate access to redress mechanisms will prove to be meaningless.


Without genuine attempts to address human rights violations, the Special Committee on Human Rights Coordination will just be another “mascot” to distract the public from the real and gruesome human rights situation in the Philippines where killings and attacks against activists continue, cases of enforced disappearances evidently increase, militarization triggers violence, environmental protection and climate justice remain an issue, and fair and livable wage and access to needs and services have yet to be secured.