MANILA (UPDATED)— A planned memorial for victims of human rights violations during the martial law regime risks becoming a white elephant due to lack of funds, an official said Thursday.

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During the Commission on Human Rights' budget briefing before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, the Human Rights Violations Victims Memorial Commission (HRVVMC) appealed to lawmakers to help fund the project, which will be built in a lot inside the University of the Philippines covered by a 50 year usufruct agreement.

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HRVVMC Executive Director Chuck Crisanto said the agency only has a P31 million budget under the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

But the absence of a special provision on the use of their trust fund poses a huge problem.

"We have a trust fund provided by law. And this is the trust fund that I'd like the honorable chair to look into. There used to be a special provision provided in every GAA and for the NEP for 2023 there is no special provision regarding our trust fund," Crisanto said.

Crisanto said they still have funds for the museum construction.

"We have as of the moment P287 million in our (inaudible) fund which we can still release before the end of the year, we can actually conduct the construction for the museum starting October," Crisanto explained.

The briefer submitted to the House showed that the actual trust fund still has over P605 million as of end of July.

"If there is no special provision it may turn out to be a white elephant since no funds will be allotted for 2023," Crisanto said.

MUSEUM

The museum has already collected 300 artifacts, the latest of which is the AVSECOM van where the body of Ninoy Aquino was placed after his assassination.

According to the commission's budget briefer submitted to the House, the commission originally sought a P126.314 million budget for 2023 but the DBM only approved over P31.80 million. The amount is even less than its 2022 budget of P37.38 million.

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The DBM, meanwhile, claimed it did not remove any funding for the museum because it really does not allocate a budget for the institution.

"The special provisions concerning the establishment of the martial law museum the past budget years are all adjustments introduced by Congress. It was not part of the national expenditure program submitted by the DBM even in the past years," it said in a statement.

The agency also said funding for the museum is categorized as "trust receipts", meaning that the fund is available for it.

Republic Act 10368 created the Commission primarily for the establishment, restoration, preservation and conservation of the memorial, museum, library, and/or compendium in honor of the human rights violations during the regime of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., father of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos.

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One of its tasks is the acquisition of artifacts related to the 1972 to 1986 martial law era.

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