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 wilC7qYlna=Ozn=NIpf5Vdp24D6@K5yg_a9DHFwCvjsM_met+5Uh_l 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 Gretchen Diez and other LGBT rightsd0(nDJzyxVkAAWvAfMiyJeQ!Ukb4pF7ubbs%QTj*3LQy5L)D2s advocates.

An incident at a Quezon City mall in whichX^-32AjTj-w8GCx6^m&zhYmwIR45K6fK_M4kRcfHz_gX#vK4*d 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 slowest-moving b_KhZvmR)nJp5%waZG)$wfYugKCb3txedpM@U=4QjoMuknjBFRtills in the country’s history.

SepKV7Bw()8r5Ms!b0sqqf)#f%kxxKqMPr)badNYFDF6lPq7G%9Znator Risa Hontiveros filed the bill in 2016. And, lawmakers and rights activist originally drafted the law nearly 20 years ago.

The House of Representatives passed the bill in 2017 with unanimous supX+$FJMkqwgzQ&IdUY=w$IJ-If#-s#qV-$^hC-X4tVE5^UD#&Ylport 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, -(ZNW_A1HHrzT7uxBuMs5djKA36S1=8zeGuhJi69HLlzQ!+lDgincluding anti-LGBTI boxer Manny Pacquiao, have stalled it in the Senate.

It oncdh*)SHUbFi!DJI2pWtLu+=kj5FD!6Dt@Bn7&^hZUnk+S^G93I4e again floundered in the last session of Congress in June.

But Hontiveros last month re-fiW26&lESuS2P6Q*eSE7DzIw6S$Ba0atejXdjZgL5z(kW+=1HWAhled the SOGIE Equality Bill.