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Number of PDL Assisted
The central and regional offices have recorded a total of 7,944 persons deprived of liberty (PDL)
who were assisted in various forms during the year. There were 6,831 males and 1,113 females.
Of the 7,944 assisted, 69 were LGBTQ, 416 were children in conflict situations (CICL), 251 were
elderly, and 46 were persons with disabilities.
•
Mental Health Facilities Visited
Persons deprived of liberty whose detention is caused by human rights violation are seen and
visited as well, more so, when they experience mental health issues and emergencies, and are
inevitably confined in medical facilities. The purpose of the visit always considers ensuring that
the PDL’s are referred to social workers and/or psychiatric specialists to provide therapy,
rehabilitation, crisis intervention, and other related help.
Mental Health Facilities Visited
Baguio General Hospital (BGH) & Medical Center Psychiatry Department - Baguio
Bridges of Hope Rehabilitation Center
Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVCMC) Psychiatric Facility, Tuguegarao City
Mariveles Mental and Wellness and General Hospital – Bataan
DOH-Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center
Don Susano Mental Hospital, Pili, Cam Sur
Southern Philippines Medical Center Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) Psychiatric and Psychological Services Ward
ZC Medical Center, Mental Health Facility
B. Number of Persons Affected with Mental Health Issues Served
The aid-users or aid-receivers reached out to, and who then benefited from CHR’s array of
services, included clients needing either specific help or a set or series of interventions. The CHR
had anticipated in advance the necessity for several services to merge and complement each other
so that the outcomes and impacts among those being helped would be generally complete and
holistic. The principle that the components of legal issues are inherently interrelated and that to
treat them separately and partially impedes sustainable solutions, is always observed. In this
sense, the CHR designed and extended a number of services to form an integrated system of help
through legal advice, counselling, psycho-social services, case follow up/monitoring, forming
linkages with family members and referral mechanisms with concerned government
organizations, along with service-oriented practitioners such as the civil society organizations.
There were 118 males and 65 females who received the services. Seven of the females were minors.
C. Number and Types of Visits to Places of Deprivation of Liberty (POD)
Jail visits are primarily the mode used to obtain information as to the general conditions of the
persons deprived of liberty. Further methods of information have been to seek the help of families
or relatives, to inspect their environment, to ensure their physical and mental wellbeing in
detention, and to prevent a status of exclusion from community while they are still being kept in
confined places. The other practices designed to keep them in contact with helpers when physical
visits are temporarily not feasible include online meetings, phone calls/video chats, and written
communication. There were 818 physical visits, 97 online, 25 phone calls, 42 written
communications, totaling 982 across the 16 regions.
V.
Accomplishments on Promotion Program/ Services
The mandate for human rights education is explicit: “You have a human right to know your
rights.” The Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) exhorts “every
individual and every organ of society” to “strive by teaching and education, to promote respect for
these rights and freedoms.” Article 30 of the UDHR declares that one goal of education should be
“the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” According to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a government “may not stand in the
way of people’s learning about [their rights].”
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