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 will always lie on the lawmakers,” the presigj=2Z_uhM861a_jz#k!7J_Zrcs+ws&8!^hz&i3zy4_J5IC+nNZdent’s office spokesperson Salvador Panelo said yesterday, according to the Philippine Star.

Duette last week met with a transgender woman Gretchen Diez and other LGBT rights advocv0pMvS+n+Ot51_aDC0EbHXhjfJ=XV2YPfb6Yf=DY2C9jtSdd!Qates.

An incidentG4y)eRxsAI2^[email protected][email protected]+nSxM#AYdI1nJzHl at a Quezon City mall in which a janitor forbid Diez from using a woman’s bathroom reignited debate over the so-called SOGIE Bill.

The bill has become one of the slow$KAYLb%S)#M%QR)fPo9$suR+XV9I0CBpu$HWKYJI(d0iF%AE(zest-moving bills in the country’s history.

Senator Risa Hontiveros filed the bill in 2016HMo2*ODwBlEW!y$hR-=(h$DVVKP$p9*pq^6pLgj5#hss4Tbg_K. And, lawmakers and rights activist originally drafted the law nearly 20 years ago.

The mORH9QC6)h)gfOARnSv3=!_xk16o)mATFZdkvRpl0b9kO^[email protected]=GHouse of Representatives 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.

S-zwlIuaI65zIG-M)^emu%EFy#LvPr&5OAyvA3wv%L1jb&QqPlBut, conservative lawmakers, including anti-LGBTI boxer Manny Pacquiao, have stalled it in the Senate.

It once again floundered in the last session of Congress in J0DtKczLAu+zp7fBUqw(O9F+cjVPiA9r^uJ5RxRSeaJoN6zQ*Bcune.

But Hontiveros last month re-filed the SOGIE Equality BYYNDZKw4lyPqo#o9hsvqd6laV(+nSvg%)DuUgvp6G1NAXqq6nlill.