Danilo Reyes

When the concept of bringing human rights to the grassroots in the late 1990s in the Philippine was initiated, it was a bold step in the promotion and protection of human rights. This positive development was realised through the signing of a memorandum of agreement by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Dept. of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that institutionalised barangay (neighbourhood) human rights action centres, or BHRACs, throughout the country whose main function is to "process complaints, coordinate and refer cases to concerned agencies, mobilise the community for human rights protection and handle information and education programmes" at the local barangay level.

It is now more than a decade since BHRACs were created so it is an appropriate time to ask, Do these institutions really function, and is their impact really felt in grassroots communities, especially in parts of the country where people are exposed or vulnerable to human rights violations, like in Mindanao?

After several years as a journalist and human rights worker, my observations lead me to the conclusion that the work of BHRACs are still waiting to be felt at the grassroots level or they have never really existed. It is not difficult to assess the claim of the CHR that about 14,208 BHRACs had been established by 2002: one can just ask ordinary people living in the barangays if they know anything about BHRACs, are familiar with their work and have utilised their services. The usual response is "no" or "not yet," thus throwing into question the effectiveness of this human rights programme.

In July 2003, after the Buliok war in Pikit in Cotabato Province, not one representative from the BHRACs in the barangays of the municipalities of Pikit, Pagalungan and Pagagawan were present or joined the members of the group to monitor the ceasefire composed of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in their postwar fact-finding mission. If there were officials or anyone from the barangays, they were not members of the BHRACs.

One of the officials from the barangay of Buliok in Pikit said of the BHRACs: "We don't have that in our barangay."

Two problems that afflict the work of BHRACs are a shortage of funds and a lack of competent and committed people. Many people who are appointed by barangay officials to be barangay human rights action officers often do not possess a human rights background. They have never exhibited any dedication to the promotion and protection of human rights, for instance, or, indeed, ever expressed any interest in human rights. Rather, their appointment appears to merely be a bureaucratic reflex to appoint someone to fill a position. Some of the appointed barangay human rights action officers did not even know whether there were other barangay human rights action officers in their area or their roles and obligations to promote and protect human rights.

In addition to these shortcomings, it is difficult to get support from barangay officials for the campaign to enact the anti-torture bill now in the House of Representatives and Senate. For example, a barangay in Davao del Norte Province in Mindanao rejected a resolution in support of the anti-torture bill. This lack of support is especially noticeable in central Mindanao as barangay officials sometimes even argue that acts of torture are justifiable. One barangay official, for instance, asserted, "If we don't torture anyone, how will we get a confession?"

Moreover, when the conflict in the municipality of Jolo on Sulu Island erupted again in early February 2005, where were the BHRACs and barangay human rights action officers? Most of the time one saw local and other Philippine NGOs and members of civil society responding to the complaints of victims of human rights violations.

The mechanism is in place, the intention is noble and the objective is for the protection of human rights among people at the grassroots; but if implementation is not taken seriously or if this institution, in fact, has never really been established, people are deprived of the respect, protection and fulfilment of their rights by the government, and BHRACs, instead of promoting and protecting human rights, merely add to people's sense of cynicism, frustration and anger.