Lecture
FILIPINOS URGED TO FIGHT FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS
MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos must be able to demand from the government the implementation of their right to housing, right to education, or right to health, or else these socio-economic rights would remain mere words on paper, according to retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
“We all know that a right that has no remedy is not a right at all,” Puno said.
Puno said the traditional mindset of the non-enforceability of these socio-economic rights—that these are not demandable from the government— must be changed, and he implored a group of people’s lawyers to take up the battle to change this view.
Speaking at the general assembly of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, Puno noted that all these socio-economic rights are enshrined in the Constitution, but added that these would serve no purpose if people could not ask that these be enforced.
“But even while they are embedded in the Constitution, they are no better than paper rights because they cannot go to any government authority, they cannot go to the legislature, they cannot go to the executive, they cannot go to the Supreme Court and demand that their socio-economic rights be implemented,” he said.
Puno said the traditional view of socio-economic rights not being demandable, unlike civil and political rights, is a doctrine that is followed not just in the Philippines but also in most democratic countries.
One manifestation of this is the President’s veto of the bills putting in place the Magna Carta of the Poor and the bill protecting the rights of internally displaced persons.
The President rejected both bills essentially because socio-economic rights are not supposedly demandable, and because of lack of funding to support the enforcement of these rights.
The Supreme Court also adheres to such a mindset, the retired top magistrate noted, citing its dismissal of the petition questioning the tuition hikes, which is premised on the right to education.
MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos must be able to demand from the government the implementation of their right to housing, right to education, or right to health, or else these socio-economic rights would remain mere words on paper, according to retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
“We all know that a right that has no remedy is not a right at all,” Puno said.
Puno said the traditional mindset of the non-enforceability of these socio-economic rights—that these are not demandable from the government— must be changed, and he implored a group of people’s lawyers to take up the battle to change this view.
Speaking at the general assembly of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, Puno noted that all these socio-economic rights are enshrined in the Constitution, but added that these would serve no purpose if people could not ask that these be enforced.
“But even while they are embedded in the Constitution, they are no better than paper rights because they cannot go to any government authority, they cannot go to the legislature, they cannot go to the executive, they cannot go to the Supreme Court and demand that their socio-economic rights be implemented,” he said.
Puno said the traditional view of socio-economic rights not being demandable, unlike civil and political rights, is a doctrine that is followed not just in the Philippines but also in most democratic countries.
One manifestation of this is the President’s veto of the bills putting in place the Magna Carta of the Poor and the bill protecting the rights of internally displaced persons.
The President rejected both bills essentially because socio-economic rights are not supposedly demandable, and because of lack of funding to support the enforcement of these rights.
The Supreme Court also adheres to such a mindset, the retired top magistrate noted, citing its dismissal of the petition questioning the tuition hikes, which is premised on the right to education.