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Salcedo. 2010 Page 1

JOSE PepeDIOKNO

ON HUMAN RIGHTS

-JOSE DIOKNO

Human Rights

More than legal concepts Essence of man They are what make man human. Human Rights in the Philippines:

as if Filipinos exist for theeconomy and the state, and not

the reverse.

as if Filipinos were less humanthan the men and women of the

West.

Governments success:

Mass Media Ignorance

Five Great International Documents

Universal Declaration of Human Rights International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights

International Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights

Declaration and Action Programme onthe Establishment of a New

International Economic Order

Economic Rights and Duties of StateTwo Great National Documents

Malolos Constitution of 1898 Philippine Constitution of 1935

Basics of HUMAN RIGHTS

1. Rights of ManA. Right to LifeB. Right to DignityC.

Right to Develop Ourselves

2. Rights of the PeopleA. Right to surviveB. Right to self-determinationC. Right to develop as a people

3. On Government only as an agent ofsociety

Basics of HUMAN RIGHTS

1.Rights of ManA. Right to life

a) Right to healthb) Right to own propertyc)

Right to form trade union and to strike

d) Right to social securitye) Right to rest and leisuref) Right to move about freely within our country

and to leave and return to it

g) Right to establish a family and to exercise therights of parents.

B. Right to dignity

a) Right to recognition everywhere as a personb) Right to honor and reputationc) Right to freedom of thoughtd) Right of consciencee) Right of religionf) Right of opinion and expression g) Right to seek, receive, and impart information h) Right to peaceful assembly with our fellows i) Right to equal treatment before the lawj) Right to privacy in our family, our home, and

our correspondence

k) Right to freedom from slavery, torture, andcruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,as

well as from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile

l) Right to be presumed innocent of crime orwrong

m)Right to fair trial, and so forthC. Right to develop ourselves

a) Right to an educationb) Right to share in the cultural life of our

community

c) Right to form associations with our fellowd)Right to live in a national and international

order that allows all of our rights to flower and

be respected

2. Rights of the People

A. Right to surviveB.

Right to self-determinationa) Peoples rights to sovereign equality in

international affairs and international

organizations

b) Peoples Right to freedom from all forms ofracial discriminations

c) Peoples Right to political independence andfreedom from colonialism, neocolonialism, alien


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domination and intervention in our national

affairs

d)Peoples Right to sovereigntyover our naturalresources and over all economic activities

e)Peoples Right to control the activities of foreigninvestors and transnational corporations

f)Peoples Right to nationalize and expropriatetheir assets

g)Peoples Right to freely choose and change ourpolitical, social, and cultural and economic

systems.

C. Right to develop as a people

a)Peoples Right to choose the goals and meansof development

b)Peoples Right to industrialize the economyc)Peoples Right to implement social and

economic reforms that ensure the participation

of all the people in the process and benefits of

development

d)Peoples Right to share in scientific andtechnological advances of the world

e)And as a former colony, Peoples Right toreparation and retribution for the exploitation

RIGHTS OF MAN

1. Economic, social and cultural rights2. Civil and political rights

Some of mans individual rights are absolute, others

are not.

Absolute- cannot be limited in any way

under any circumstances, not evenunder the gravest of emergencies.

Limited- to preserve social life

Conditions for the limitations:

They must be provided by law They must be necessary to preserve society,

or protect public health, public morals, or

similar rights of others

They must not exceed what is strictlynecessary to achieve their purpose.

How well do human rights fare in our country?

RIGHTS OF MAN

Salvaging Poor Health Unemployment Low Wages Exploitation Suppressing Dissent

RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE

Our Survival Not in Our Hands Economic Policy Decided by Aliens

How can we do so?

Two strategies:

1. Convince the government to changepolicies

2. Change the governmentHow?

o As individualo As a group

A Filipino Concept of JUSTICE

JUSTICE

John Rawls:

is the first virtue of social institutionslaws and

institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged

must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust.

Social Justice:

How to distribute the burdens and benefits of social life.

Rank? Merit? Deeds or Needs?

yet justice must somehow be done if society is to hold

togetherotherwise anarchy or dictatorship.

Filipinos on JUSTICE

(we can look to our language and to our history)

Katarungan (from Visayan tarong) Karapatan (from dapat) Batas Kapangyarihan

Cham Perelman:

Justice- principle of action in accordance with

which being of one and the same essential

category must be treated in the same way

Aristotle:

Justice-treating equals equally and unequalsunequally but in proportion to their relevant

differences.

HISTORY OF OUR PEOPLE:

1. First, a society which is not onlyindependent but in which the people are

sovereign


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2. Second, a society which respects thefreedom and equal dignity of all

3. Third, a society which protects workers andtenants, opposes oppression, exploitation

and abuse, and seeks to eliminate poverty.

4.

Fourth, a society which is united inbrotherhood and self-reliant

Three Ways SOCIAL INJUSTICE is committed:

a. By not having a system of law at all,written or unwritten, or one so flawed

that people do not know what their

legal rights and duties are

b. By not enforcing law fairlyc. By enacting law that does not pursue

the social values that constitute the

Filipino vision of a just society.

THE FILIPINO MODEL OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

I. (The Filipino model of SOCIAL JUSTICE

comprises the following) REQUIREMENTS for a

SYSTEM to work:

The authority of the law maker must berecognized by the majority of the people as

legitimate, and the laws enacted must not

exceed the limits on the authority imposed by

the prevailing consensus

Laws must be published or made known to thepersons who are to be affected by them

Laws must not be changed so often or soquickly that people cannot reasonably base

plans on them

Laws must be understandable and notcontradictory.

Six Types of Court Decisions

1. Analytic2. Intuitive3. Aleatory4. Pusillanimous5. Venal6. Asinine

II. Standards to eliminate or, given the frailty of

men, to drastically reduce the last four kinds of

judgments. It also includes standards to infuse

courage, competence and integrity into

lawyers

III. Standards we should judge the content of

laws, policies and institutions that seek justice

in the Philippines.

BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH. There is POVERTY and

INEQUALITY.Laws, policies and institutions must consciously

strive, by effective means:

To eradicate poverty To select a means of developing and using our

natural resources, our industries and our

commerce.

To change those relations and structures ofrelations between man and man, between

groups, and between communities that cause or

perpetuate inequality.

Two Principles Embodied by the Standards:

1. The principle of reparation to repairinjustice

2. A principle of change that look forwardto effect the internal and external

revolutions to attain the aspiration

(written by Jacinto) that a Filipinos

worth, who he is, should not depend on

what he was.

Neither principle advocates or intends to

abolish all inequality. IT IS NOT REALISTIC!

But we can change human relations andactions.

INDIVIDUALITY in the Filipino psyche

Neither principle seeks to do away withgovernment or law.

It is through honest governmentsenforcing just laws that the principles

would be translated into actual justice.