Does CHR need an enabling law? What created CHR?

Section 17, Article 13 of the 1987 Constitution provides, "There is hereby created an independent office called the Commission on Human Rights." However, the third paragraph provides, "Until this Commission is constituted, the existing Presidential Committee on Human Rights shall continue to exercise its present functions and powers."

The term "until constituted" has raised many questions regarding the nature of the Commission's constitution. Is it a constitutional body, meaning created by the Constitution? Or, does its creation need an enabling law or order?

These questions are legitimate ones that have to be addressed in a proper proceeding before the final arbiter of the land, the Supreme Court. However, Project Jurisprudence is of the opinion that the Commission is a constitutional body and that no enabling law is needed for its creation or continued existence.
First of all, the first paragraph of Section 17 is clear and unequivocal: "There is hereby created xxx." This leaves no question as to whether the Commission has indeed been a creature of the Constitution. Now, regarding the term, "until constituted," principles on statutory construction may help us understand the apparent conflict and dispel all forms of confusion.

Number one: In seemingly contradictory provisions of a law, the Supreme Court has always adopted a mode of interpretation in which all words and provisions are preserved, instead of rendering one of them nugatory. The wisdom behind this is that the lawmaking body could not have inserted those words or provisions, albeit apparently contradictory, without any purpose. Number two: Words of a statute should, first and foremost, be viewed and read in their ordinary meaning. Hence, "constitute" could mean "set up," initiate" or "start."

While it is true that the 1986 Constitutional Convention inserted the term "until constituted," it cannot be ignored that the Constitution has already created the Commission. What "until constituted" means is that, at the time the 1987 Constitution took effect, there was still no such independent office and was yet to be constituted, started or set up.

In short, the Commission on Human Rights is a creation of the Constitution. It was formed in 1987 when the Constitution took effect. President Corazon Aquino's executive order, Executive Order No. 163 (5 January 1987), was merely a legal trumpet, so to speak, to "start" the Commission. ADVERTISEMENT: Work from home! Be an online English tutor. Earn at least PHP100/hour.