Duterte 'out of his mind' in threat to abolish CHR, says bishop

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte must be 'out of his mind' to threaten to abolish the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

“My God, Duterte is [going] out of his mind!” Bastes was quoted as saying in a Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website post.

“His desire to abolish CHR is a sign that he has the dangerous tendency to be a dictator. Heaven forbid!” he added.

The prelate argued that the President cannot abolish a constitutional body, just as the Chief presidential legal counsel Sec. Salvador Panelo and Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said on Thursday.

The CHR is an independent office created under the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines that is tasked to investigate all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights.

Defending the country's police and soldiers against allegations of human rights violations, Duterte on Tuesday threatened to abolish CHR and the Office of the Ombudsman. — BAP/KVD, GMA News