Philippine president fails to get behind anti-discrimination bill

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 wi+ePU_5X#GPguS0YE3VpaB7)Jki47W+tGH3f!CVmOPk_V3igf(Kll always lie on the lawmakers,” the president’s office spokesperson Salvador Panelo said yesterday, according to the Philippine Star.

Duette last week met with a transgender woman Gre8mm-f^w3HeBPXIEwq-cv8EPqR237S^#2v9=8qXOh1XacR^be35tchen 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 ovLogY4RfNEQBE-+aphnxQc5z7AujH7oC20aG9OE%udu54ctgN&&er the so-called SOGIE Bill.

^lmMgNI2I9dBD!MrL06ZFSQGam45+9heDI)$IA^aSp0=hRwbe7The bill has become one of the slowest-moving bills in the country’s history.

Senator Risa Hontiveros filed the bill inkYg0E$(HUpHPfMk%QVWL+(xy+GP5#1MW%@[email protected] 2016. And, lawmakers and rights activist originally drafted the law nearly 20 years ago.

The House of Representatives passed the bill i@2mIB!Z-YX3r4mUP9FqF5J(q*[email protected]n 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, including anti-LGBTI boxer Manny[email protected]&^jYgys06E!C6oSycH*[email protected] Pacquiao, have stalled it in the Senate.

It once again floundered in the last session[email protected]#b#9NNHocKfR*Fyp6oT!^Q-VPuPoSnOeUDXcnd)cPpw of Congress in June.

But Hontivw4cdk2NYt8M-^sM3F)qIl_zijV4RNFrHaZ#!t+l9%yKHa5nzAAeros last month re-filed the SOGIE Equality Bill.