Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 10) — The Senate on Monday increased the proposed budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) by P156 million.

In contrast to the rocky budget hearings at the Lower House, the Senate swiftly approved a budget of P693 million pesos for the plenary's approval — more than the CHR's proposed P537 million pitch.

The CHR recently weathered a budget cut scare at the Lower House, which has since restored its proposed budget after threatening to slash it to a mere P1,000.

READ: House restores budgets of CHR, NCIP, and ERC

At the Senate, the debates for the budget were quick despite several questions during interpellation.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, the sole interpellator, raised a few issues on the CHR-- particularly on the backlog in providing financial assistance to the victims of Zamboanga siege.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is the sponsor of CHR's allocation, defended the commission and said the CHR is carrying out efforts to fast-track the payments for the beneficiaries, and is aiming for a zero backlog.

When asked why several positions in CHR remain vacant, Lacson said the CHR added 200 new items and is hiring additional personnel.

Lacson also defended the CHR's unobligated allotment from the 2017 budget, saying the budget he added from last year for infrastructure has yet to be used as the agency is still in the process of bidding.

Human Rights Commission Chief Chito Gascon said the higher budget will help the agency in pushing for its programs. This includes expanding the financial assistance to human rights victims and clients under the witness protection program.

"We are very thankful to the Senate for attending to the issues and concerns that we had raised. Now, they have approved not just the proposal of the committee NEP (National Expenditure Program) proposal of P650M but they have also decided to top it," Gascon said.

Meanwhile, when asked about Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano's statement that there are no extrajudicial killings, Gascon said such statements give signal to the international community that the Philippines is not ready to confront facts and issues the government is facing.

"Importante na ang mga pinuno ng ating bayan simula sa pangulo, mga pulis at DFA ay harapin na lamang yung katotohanan. Dahilan kung bakit sila may ganitong postura ay pinipilit nilang baguhin yung definition ng EJK na hindi sang-ayon sa pandaigdigang pananaw," he said.

(Translation: It's important that our nation's leaders — from the President to the police and the Department of Foreign Affairs — to face the truth. One of the reasons they have this position is they are trying to change the definition of EJKs to one that is different from the world view.)

The Senate also approved on Monday the Transportation Department's proposed P65.9 billion pesos budget for plenary consideration.

It is also considering allotting an additional P10 billion to the 2018 proposed budget of State Universities and Colleges, but for the meantime has initially approved its proposal amounting to P59.8 billion.