MANILA - Former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loreta "Etta" Rosales on Saturday said House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez should review the 1986 Constitution after he said the commission is not doing its job.

"Mr. Alvarez, may I remind you, puntahan ninyo ang Saligang Batas, pag-aralan ninyo iyon para nang sa ganun ay mas maintindihan niyo, malinawan kayo. Because it is not the administration or the policy of Mr. Duterte that matters solely," Rosales told radio DZMM.

"We have 8 of 9 international human rights instruments to which we are a state party. The role of the CHR is to monitor the obligations of the state and that includes Mr. Duterte and company."

Alvarez previously defended the Lower House's move to give the commission only P1,000 for its budget.
"Nagrereklamo sila wala na raw silang magagawa sa P1,000 budget. Talaga namang wala silang ginagawa . . . Bakit pa tayo magsasayang ng pera ng gobyerno diyan?" he said.

Rosales earlier said the Lower House does not seem to know what it's doing when it reduced the commission's budget by that amount.

"Ipaalam diyan sa mga 119 congressmen na iyan, you don’t seem to know what you are doing. You are actually violating the rights of the people, their protection of human dignity because you have reduced the budget to $20," she said.

The constitutional body is mandated to investigate violations involving civil and political rights, including those allegedly committed by state agents.

Meanwhile, Rosales slammed President Duterte for calling the death of kids in the illegal-drug war "collateral damage."

"Convention on the rights of the child have been violated — Kian, Arnaiz, Reynaldo. And then Althea Barbon. And what does Mr. Duterte call them? Collateral damage. That is so insulting. That is so dehumanizing," she said.

The President previously apologized for all the "unintended killings" in his administration's campaign against illegal drugs.

“I would admit there were killings that were unintended, gaya ng mga bata na tinatamaan sa crossfire. Collateral damage, and I'm sorry. There has to be a casualty and there has to be some drawbacks there,” Duterte said in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News' Lynda Jumilla in Malacañang.