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 officY_$cXXjG5fSgwEkrL_k7&uirnTzim-1Y4JT71&ZACC0mC0IyA4e spokesperson Salvador Panelo said yesterday, according to the Philippine Star.

Duette last week met with a transgender woman Gretchen Diez and other LGBT rights advFQZGi4ZoiUD$_4(+ajAU#EThO^mxve9AqKA!vhxvkv!B*8fC8uocates.

An incident at a Quezon City mall in which a janitor forbid Diez from using a woman’s bathroom reignited debate ovLo1OuWn63RSzC-B1IXJ)(T(HuR&%+PreR#(B6A#8DjQV*q=u%2er the so-called SOGIE Bill.

The bill has become one of the slowest-moving bills in the cou&mlX5jKffnfOnu=FMmN=6)nAu(TDUm8b4rf!8#Ek^4nE7Pz-q9ntry’s history.

Senator Risa Hontiveros filed the bill in 2016. And, lawmakers and rights activist originally drafted the law nearlQ9OxT(l@+fVNAjV*D(jB=YR%xb(bIU(n4HhEz6EvW9l%YAGmA!y 20 years ago.

The House of Represt97xorO=P3wQHrFJ*90RMF)*PkJD(_+XuhjF3kuCGcE4m*cb3dentatives 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, including anti-LGBTI boxer Manny Pacquiao, hamepOWC8In0jKe2K0kDx5d21a&1pL)yHbCm3hRMv@GZ%JjwLY0Tve stalled it in the Senate.

It once again floundered in the lastkx1RR0wiRsBuGE(=s0R0^VjPgabo%C=j^H6s(#@5aPMqjs#5#@ session of Congress in June.

But HontiveUEz$7BS7#L6HJMzPQ@j!0r#UJ_K$!opz89S1VPX*eA1PAs_#=Eros last month re-filed the SOGIE Equality Bill.