RIGHTS WRONGED

Law must Lead, not Linger!

Published by DSPC Inquirer on November 26, 2025

In a society where rights are written yet rarely felt, the gap between law and implementation continues to widen. Justice was ignored when officials were at fault, education that was supposed to be the key for our better future wasn’t accessible by many. This issue was brought up during the school-based press conference at General Santos City National Secondary School of Arts and Trades (GSCNSSAT), where Lakas Bisig Publication adviser James B. Lomocho emphasized that we have rights protected by law. 

During the school-based press conference at GSCNSSAT, Lomocho reminded campus journalists of their various rights as an individual such as quality education and safety. The government already passed laws to protect these rights but despite the powerful constitution, rights remain denied not by lack of legislation, but by the government’s failure to enforce what it already promised. 

The Constitution ensures quality education and accountability laws command responsibility. But still, millions of Filipinos are considered functionally illiterate, public institutions continue to escape responsibility. Policies are announced publicly but they’re not executed effectively. This proves that the problem is not the absence of law, but our government’s failure to act with urgency.

FUNDamental Educational Rights
Every freedom and national advancement is supposed to find its foundation in education, yet one of the most delayed obligations of the government has been in providing education. We cannot classify quality education as a privilege, rather, it is a constitutional right upon which the government does not act.

Public schools worry about school facilities, overcrowded classrooms, or old textbooks that public schools have to provide. Meanwhile, according to inquirer.net 1.055 trillion pesos meant for the education sector have either been mismanaged or lost to corruption, with students lacking knowledge their age must have. A right delayed here is not an inconvenience, it is a stolen future.
Read more: DepEd, DPWH get highest 2025 budget allocation

Officials often claim that delays are due to limited budgets. But excuses cannot replace action. To solve this issue, the government must set a priority on putting funds to proper use, fight corruption in educational programs, enforce transparency, and enable independent monitoring to ensure that legal provisions supporting education receive full implementation.

Accountability is a responsibility
This is the grim reality reflected in unresolved complaints and stalled investigations, accountability laws are done only depending on the person who’s at fault. Laws restricting the abuse of power and public funds are meant to compel accountability. Failure to ensure accountability results in the collapse of all other rights.

Violations usually go unpunished because we lack political support. Complaints aren’t heard, reports are neglected, and investigations run indefinitely or end quietly without notice. So, citizens are left defenseless and watch their right erode while the system protects the powerful. Rights do not exist in isolation but become dead when not enforced. 

For there to be real solutions, there must be transparency in budgets and investigations, and guaranteed timelines for the resolution of violations without exception. Accountability must be non-negotiable because rights are useless without enforcement.

Justice is a Must
Many said Filipinos suffer because of not enough legislation to follow. But, we are not suffering from a lack of laws, they are suffering from the government’s inability, or unwillingness, to enforce them. A delayed right is already a denied right, and citizens deserve actions. The hopes of our nation must have the same opportunity others’ have. Crimes will continue to threaten our safety unless accountability is pursued.

The government must act with urgency, transparency, and integrity. Policies must not remain promises. Rights must not remain in theory. Implementation must not remain an option. Because in a nation where rights are delayed, the people are denied, and Filipinos deserve better than delay disguised as progress.