MANILA, Philippines – A lower court judge was appointed Commission on Human Rights (CHR) commissioner, finally completing the leadership of the independent body tasked to probe abuses of government agents.
The CHR announced Saturday, November 16, that Judge Amifaith Fider-Reyes has been appointed to the CHR en banc. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made this appointment rather late, because the CHR en banc was incomplete for the first two years in his presidency.
The CHR en banc is a five-person panel made up of the chairperson and four commissioners. Fider-Reyes is one of the two CHR commissioners who come from the judiciary, the first one being retired Court of Appeals (CA) justice Monina Arevalo Zenarosa.
Chairperson Richard Palpal-latoc’s background is prosecutorial and a former Malacañang deputy executive secretary for legal affairs. Commissioner Beda Epres came from the Office of the Ombudsman, and Commissioner Faydah Dumarpa was a legislative officer in both houses of Congress.
The CHR said Fider-Reyes has “profound understanding of the intricacies of applying and interpreting the law, complemented by her strong academic background focusing on children’s rights.”
“The Commission is confident that Commissioner Fider-Reyes’s multidisciplinary background ensures a dynamic approach to addressing the complex challenges of human rights in the Philippines, particularly in safeguarding the rights of vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalized sectors,” said the CHR on Saturday.
Fider-Reyes handled the second cyber libel case against Rappler CEO, and Nobeal Laureate, Maria Ressa, which was filed by the same businessman in the first case that resulted in her conviction in Manila, pending now at the Supreme Court. Fider-Reyes was a judge in Makati back then, and she eventually inhibited from the case citing threatening emails sent to her.
Fider-Reyes was also assigned judge in Mabalacat, Pampanga, where she convicted serial pedophile David Timothy Deakin of child pornography in 2019. In the same judgment, she acquitted Deakin of cybersex charges. Deakin was sentenced to two years in Fider-Reyes’ verdict. In 2020, Deakin again figured in a child abuse case, and was found guilty by another Pampanga judge of large-scale qualified trafficking.
In Pampanga, Fider-Reyes also issued the warrant of arrest against Globe Asiatique founder Delfin Lee for syndicated estafa over the socialized housing scam scandal. – Rappler.com