Introduction Series: What is the Memorial Commission?
Published on February 8, 2023


Section 27 of R.A. No. 10368 states that “The powers and functions of the Commission shall be assumed by the Board of Trustees….”. Further, the Commission shall be attached to the CHR for budgetary and administrative purposes. The operating budget of the Commission shall be appropriated from the General Appropriations Act.

Some elements in this logo also pay tribute to other symbols. The blue background is reminiscent of the color of the United Nations, which declared the universality of human rights in 1948. The eight branches radiating within the flower draw inspiration from the rays of the sun in the Philippine flag.

Photo: From “Republic Act No. 10766,” Senate of the Philippines, April 19, 2016, accessed, July 22, 2022,
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The Five hundred million pesos (₱500,000,000.00) comes from the accrued interest of the Ten billion-peso (₱10,000,000,000.00) fund appropriated for R.A. No. 10368. This fund forms part of the amount transferred to the Philippine Government by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, and adjudged by the Supreme Court of the Philippines in Republic vs. Sandiganbayan on July 15, 2003 (G.R. No. 152154) as Marcos ill-gotten wealth.

The Museum will be modeled in brutal architecture, a common style among government structures built during the Marcos dictatorship. Originally planned to be built in Bonifacio Global City, later Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, the Museum grounds found its home within the UP Diliman campus. The late CHR Chairperson Chito Gascon believed this to be “the most logical site… a stone’s throw away from where the barricades of UP activists of the Diliman Commune were set up.”

Photo: Members of the organization SELDA calling for an extension of the availability of funds for the compensation of victims. Image taken by Boy Santos. From the Philippine Star, Link to Page