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 spokWa#IdIyXb6wiv06gInQ1ZK4W!r(rJ-8rZEXKeS#u-Cb3GI8#z+esperson Salvador Panelo said yesterday, according to the Philippine Star.

Duette last week met with a transgender woman Gretchen Diez and otherlz%_SkSk8SZvrRtpp7@An(s$e0LC4+IPD*ny4rzjM5#6JppLTz 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-calle#BVCyAhq6DBPryD&#!gGR_U=75bAA&z!C9iytwWHXs5&FQrWoSd SOGIE Bill.

The bill has become one of a(IoxiLqtxEH^vsF!JSV4W93m3-0c&yqHy&H&m5ofvGWPE%qqNthe slowest-moving bills in the country’s history.

Senator Risa Hontiver-h+wcZ3wzHZJJ&3Y@F*ocurqI+jsQ7^-Ivev(w5rCwYS%-F4C8os 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 supporzz4N^m9!y_q#+SlpwCr0eHyd*b^@yV3mBELOsdzQ3_#O&o^=RJt 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 bonaRl+8I3D-id^neOEhJGb*EBcu5hzQlLK%NCAqYhz9!zUcJvQTxer Manny Pacquiao, have stalled it in the Senate.

It once again floundered in the BV=t6#YNoJT^pUvUU(^D*5Dgf=5%RJjo0X*s2yoctUJ7OxxqG1last session of Congress in June.

But Hontiveros last month re-filed the SOGIE Equalit+kRE6mHkQ2hLuSbVMNMBK=j1KP*48zQ^NlY+zX$Z8mUtBT2V)8y Bill.