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2.50. The Honorable Commission has a top (“A”)87 accreditation
status reflecting its full compliance with the Paris Principles.88 There is no
reason at this point not to maintain this status, especially with the recent
announcement that the Philippines will honor the Paris Agreement.89 As a
matter of fact, the petitioners highly laud the Honorable Commission’s noble
work of commencing this national public inquiry against respondent Carbon
Majors, as this exhibits its desire to maintain its top accreditation status as
NHRI, and its actions will set a positive example for NHRIs around the
world.
C.2. The Honorable Commission’s authority to
investigate all forms of human rights violations
is unequivocal, and in line with the intention of
the framers of the Constitution and the principle
of universality, indivisibility, interdependence,
and interrelatedness of human rights.
2.51. The intention of the framers of the Constitution is to make the
Honorable Commission evolving and responsive to the calls of time, and
considering that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and
interrelated.90 Pertinent portions of the deliberations of the 1986
Constitutional Commission which unequivocally convey this intent are as
follows:
“MS. AQUINO: xxx
This is where I would like to differ partly with
the committee when it seems to focus on political cases
only. It is askew; it is a bit off mark. When we speak of
countries in the Third World, like the Philippines, we speak
of human rights as something that is basic, something
that pertains to a right to life, shelter, food, and decent
standards of living. It is essentially the assertion of our
clamor for dignity to human life. It is born out of a
collective struggle of the Filipino people against a neocolonial history. xxx”91 (Emphasis supplied)
87
Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institution (GANHRI), Chart of the Status of National
Institution, Accreditation status as of 05 August 2016, available at
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/NHRI/Chart_Status_NIs.pdf, last accessed on 01 January
2017.
88
ELAW’s amicus curiae brief, p. 14; see International Coordination Committee of National Institutions
for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Directory of Institutions - Asia Pacific, available at
http://nhri.ohchr.org/EN/Contact/NHRIs/Pages/Asia-Pacific.aspx, last accessed on 01 January 2017.
89
Ramos, M. Duterte to Sign Paris Climate Pact, 08 November 2016, available at
https://globalnation.inquirer.net/149132/duterte-to-sign-paris-climate-pact, last accessed on 01 February
2017.
90
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna on 25 June 1993, available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Vienna.aspx,
last accessed on 01 January 2017.
91
Deliberations of the Constitutional Commission on the investigatory powers of the Commission on
Human Rights, p. 729, op cit., pp. 68-69.
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