News / Aug. 26, 2019
The office of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said it was up to the nation’s Congress to decide on a long-awaited bill that would criminalize discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity expression (SOGIE).
“With respect to any bill, the discretion the wisdom will always lie on the lawmakers,” the president’s office spokesperson SalvaddwpL+z8R84CfrmZUnRHKsKSn3X17HwTS*dOtAyp&%M5m)5cSOIor Panelo said yesterday, according to the Philippine Star.
Duette last week mJ+6TO-A)3V^+l1ti2XjVox1(ngcg2XzeivwV8(Y!tTHidpM)fNet with a transgender woman Gretchen Diez and other LGBT rights advocates.
An incident at a Quezon City mall in which a janitor forbid Diez from using a woman’s bathroom reignited debate over the so-calkVeSl!c#bGs4(9%VJSWe4jB83_9*ugxefkvOay4Y0IDFf$2d8Gled SOGIE Bill.
The bill has become one of the slowest-moving bills in the countrywHDfTBfq9u)(pMrFc$iAemVuCB6d7g7QJkXlhEB1Wi^3+nixBL’s history.
Senator Risa Hontiveros filed the bill in 2016. And, lawmakers and rights activist originally drafte(qmOr&izhI(k@deWog%@Z(b2JBfautqM6x5ERCU7QtelbKMhL@d the law nearly 20 years ago.
The House of Representj_o7_Je_FTBP@ixSp9EBKfGWp@#MO4zZKz_xV^9mnzJImF%1Kmatives passed the bill in 2017 with unanimous support from 198 lawmakers.
This version penalizes discriminatory acts with a fine between US$2,000 and or US$10,000 imprisonment between one and six years.
But, conservative lawmakers, includi^y1z*MID4it7T6pV$u%zjr1MDA(ttfz^YEfF9nZqR4w1OE5QOrng anti-LGBTI boxer Manny Pacquiao, have stalled it in the Senate.
It once again floundered in the last sessio0B(M&Z8Lx=h*m(MwZz)xbsG^sQwI@NVhJbkV9cwx-pk#Qh6Sf*n of Congress in June.
But Hontiveros last6l93hXia!air8It)#qRX8DEEX$neaiYH7mcVkX1E%=i_^-mbRf month re-filed the SOGIE Equality Bill.
