JUSTICE AND HUMAN

RIGHTS:
THE FILIPINO CONCEPT

DPA 732 – Philosophical Foundations of Public Administration

Elvira E. Pasagui
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
How can we find a concept of justice
native to us Filipinos when we have
been dominated by West for so long?

- Look into our language and history

 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
KATARUNGAN – common word for
justice used by Tagalogs, Visayan,
Ilocano, Pampangos
- Derived from the Visayan word
TARONG (straight, upright,
appropriate, correct)
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
For law, we use BATAS, a root denoting
command, order, decree with a meaning
disparate from that of the roots of our
words for RIGHT and JUSTICE.
Our language distinguishes clearly between
law and justice, recognizes that law is
not always just.
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
ENGLISH FILIPINO
 Justice – from Latin word  Justice – with Filipino term
“ius”, meaning right KATARUNGAN, from
Visayan word TARONG
(straight, upright,
appropriate, correct)
 Embraces the concept of
 The English word justice
equity
does not include the concept
of equity
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
We use KAPANGYARIHAN for power & authority that
creates ambiguity. It could mean that:
 Power confers authority or

 Authority confers power or

 Power ought to be divorced from authority

Today, we tend to distinguish between naked power

and authority.
Naked power – Poder (Spanish) or Lakas (Tagalog)
Authority – Kapangyarihan
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
Our language employs the same word KATARUNGAN
for both Justice and Fairness, as it is for justice and
equity.
We use: Karapatan (native word) – Right
Pribelehiyo (Spanish) – Privilege
So it seems logical to conclude that the fundamental
element in the Filipino concept of justice is fairness;
privilege and naked power - 2 of the worst enemies of
fairness – are alien to the Filipino mind.
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
Tagalogs have a root word TUWID, almost
equivalent of the Visayan word TARONG. Yet,
Tagalogs chose TARONG for our word JUSTICE,
katarungan and use TUWID to form KATUWIRAN,
meaning straightness (not rectitude) and overtone
of self-justification or excuse as in
MANGATWIRAN or MAGMATUWID.
Filipinos know that not every justification is just.
 The Filipino Concept of
Justice
by Jose W. Diokno
Summary:
Our language establishes that there is a Filipino concept of
JUSTICE; that it is a highly moral concept; intimately related to
RIGHT.
The Filipino concept of JUSTICE is similar, yet broader than the
Western concept of justice because:
 it embraces the concept of equity

 it is a discrimination concept, distinguishing between justice

and right on one hand and law and argument on the other
 Its fundamental element is fairness

 It eschews privilege and naked power

 M AN
Filipino Concept of HU
Human Rights

Hindi man ikinabit ng kartilya ang pagkapantay-pantay

(equality sa Kanluran) sa KARAPATAN NG TAO, ipinakita ni
Salazar ang kahalagahan ng karapatan ng tao na
pagkaugnayan sa katuwiran.

“The roots of Justice & Right indicates that, for us,

justice and right are intimately related.”
– Diokno, JW,
 Filipino Concept of Justice and Right

JUSTICE RIGHT
KATARUNGAN
  KARAPATAN
 common word for justice  derived from Tagalog
used by Tagalogs, word DAPAT
Visayan, Ilocano,
signifying fitting
Pampangos
 from
appropriate, correct
Visayan word
TARONG (straight,
upright, appropriate,
correct)
 M AN
Filipino Concept of HU
Human Rights

3 Classifications of Creatures
 Tao – with whom kaginhawahan or well-being

is a central concept
 Hayop/Halaman – can give ginhawa to tao

 Aswang – perceived to deny the tao of

kaginhawahan
 Penaloza, C as cited by
Chua, M., 2018
 M AN
Filipino Concept of HU
Human Rights

Therefore:
Human Rights is connected to the concept of justice.
The Filipino concept of justice and human rights
comes from within
We have a concept of what is ought to be done to our
kapwa-tao
 Human Rights in the Philippines

Rights of man are set out clearly and comprehensively

in:
• Our constitution
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its two
implementing covenants
• in sundry declaration of UN on torture, salvery and
forced labor, refugees, territorial asylum, right of the
child, of the mentally retarded persons and the like.
Respect for these rights is essential if we talk on the
Filipino aspiration for freedom.
 Human Rights in the Philippines

Human Rights recently achieved legal recognition.

3 basic rights of People as national communities:
 Right to survive

 Right to dignity

 Right to development

 Diokno, J.W., 2006

 Human Rights in the Philippines
From these 3 basic rights , we attain:
• Freedom from agression and intervention in internal affairs
• Rights to territorial integrity, police independence, sovereign
equality and international social justice
• Right to freely choose economic, political, social and cultural
systems, means and goals of development without outside
interference in any form
• Full, permanent sovereignty over national wealth, natural
reources and economic activities
• Economic and social consciousness, a prerequisite for
development
 Human Rights in the Philippines

Full, permanent sovereignty over national wealth,

natural reources and economic activities includes:
• The right to regulate and supervise foreign
investment and the activities of transnational
corportations
• To nationalize, exppropirate of transfer ownership of
foreign property
 Human Rights in the Philippines

Given the present condition of the Philippine society,

the aforementioned standards are not enough.

In addition to the denial of human rights and of

people’s rights, our society today is characterized by a
third malady, poverty and inequality.
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HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES & CONCERNS IN THE

PHILIPPINES
December 2012. Brillantes, A.B. JR. and Fernandez, M.T. The State of The State of Human Rights Education in the Philippines: Issues,
Concerns and Directions . Paper presented at the 7th National Congress on Good Citizenship Forming the Youth into Good Citizens:
Contemplating, Articulating, Operationalizing Values. Commission on Higher Education.
 HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES AND CONCERNS IN THE
PHILIPPINES

“Too many of us are not aware of our rights and

of the ways we can enforce them.” – Diokno, J.W., 2006
Thus there is a need for Human Rights
Education (HRE).
Highlights of the findings of the study of Maricel T. Fernandez
and Alex B. Brillantes, Jr, PhD. (2012)
“The State of Human Rights Education in the
Philippines: Issues, Concerns and Directions”
 HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES AND CONCERNS IN THE
PHILIPPINES

 HRE has powerful enabling policy & legal framework at the national
& international levels – we have no choice but to implement
 The operational framework for HRE is in place
 Human Rights Education is implemented on appreciation level
only – generally, human rights concerns are incorporated in
various subjects taught in schools; basic courses for AFP and PNP
 CHR & its stakeholders have developed useful materials to
supplement HRE
 Presence of good and best practices on HRE at all level
 The support of CHR in HRE has been recognized
 HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES AND CONCERNS IN THE
PHILIPPINES

Issues and Concerns in HRE

 misconceptions about human rights

 Financial and human capacity issues

 HRE has been implemented for compliance

sake only
 HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES AND CONCERNS IN THE
PHILIPPINES

“We realized that in the past 30 years, the human rights education
and conscientization work that we have undertaken and invested
in, did not really trickle down to the grassroots.”
- Ellecer Carlos, Spokesperson
In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND)
“I think... we didn't probably do a good job in translating human
rights from hifalutin technical concepts into concepts that are felt
in everyday lives.”
- Karen Gomez-Dumpit, Commissioner
CHR (in an interview with Rappler in May 2017)
 Abuse/alleged EJK

Attacks on Sexual
Human Rights
Defenders
HUMA Orientation and
Gender Identity

Violation on N
Children’s Worsening HIV
Rights RIGHT Epidemic

Attacks on S
Journalists Terrorism and Counterterrorism

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES (WORLD

REPORT 2018) – according to Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/philippines
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END
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https://www.hrw.org/tl/asia/philippines
 REFERENCES
NCPAG-UP, CHRP, and UNDP. Source Book on Human Rights.
https://www.hrw.org/tl/asia/philippines

December 2012. Brillantes, A.B. JR. and Fernandez, M.T. The State of The State of Human Rights Education in the Philippines:
Issues, Concerns and Directions . Paper presented at the 7th National Congress on Good Citizenship Forming the Youth into
Good Citizens: Contemplating, Articulating, Operationalizing Values. Commission on Higher Education.
 Attacks on Human Rights Defenders
In 2017 alone:

• Duterte encouraged police attacks against human

rights groups and advocates
• Duterte has publicly condemned the Commission
on Human Rights and threatened to abolish it.
• He also repeatedly subjected UN Special
Rapporteur on EJK Agnes Callamard to profanity-
laced ridicule for her repeated efforts to secure an
official visit to the Philippines
 Violation on Children’s Rights
• Allegedly, police have killed 56 children since the
start of the “drug war.”. Most were killed while in the
company of adults who were the apparent target of
the shooting and are considered “collateral
damage”
• Public opposition prompted Congress to reject a bill
that would have lowered the age of criminal
responsibility to nine from the current 15 years
• Child labor in small-scale gold mines remains a
serious problem
 Attacks on Journalists
• The National Union of Journalists estimates that
177 Filipino reporters and media workers have
been killed since 1986
• Duterte has publicly vilified media outlets whose
reporters have exposed police culpability in
extrajudicial killings
• In April, he threatened to block the renewal of the
broadcasting franchise of ABS-CBN network. In July,
Duterte publicly threatened the Philippine Daily Inquirer with
tax evasion charges and falsely accused the media
platform Rappler of being US-owned in an apparent effort to
undermine its credibility.
 HIV Epidemic
• Government policy failures contributing to the
country’s worsening HIV epidemic persisted in 2017
• New HIV cases jumped from 4,300 to 10,000
between 2010 and 2016, 83% are among men and
transgender women - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
• The government is responsible for a legal and policy
environment hostile to evidence-based policies and
interventions have proven to help prevent HIV
transmission, including the use of condoms and
comprehensive sexuality education targeting the
young.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• In late 2016, Human Rights Watch documented a
range of abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) students in secondary school –
bullying, harassment, discriminatory policies and
practices, and an absence of supportive resources
that undermine the right to education under
international law and put LGBT youth at risk
 Terrorism and Counterterrorism
• During the Marawi siege, at least 1,112 people were
recorded dead, mostly were allegedky rebels, some
were civilians and government soldiers and
policemen
• Displaced more than 400,000 residents of the city
and nearby towns, many of whom were living in
overcrowded evacuation camps