MAJORITY of the Senate have signed the committee report penalizing discrimination and violence due to a person’s Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC).
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros filed Committee Report No. 15 under Senate Bill No. 1600 on Tuesday afternoon. The report contained the joint recommendation of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations,
and gender equality, and committee on finance.
Hontiveros, who chairs the primary committee that held public consultations on the proposed measure, said 19 senators signed the report, while the rest of the senators signed with reservations, “which means that they will interpellate.”
Aside from Hontiveros, the committee report was also signed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, and Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Imee Marcos, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, Ronald dela Rosa, Grace Poe, Mark Villar, Francis Tolentino, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Robin Padilla, Raffy Tulfo, Jinggoy Estrada, Manuel Lapid, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Christopher Go, and Ramon Revilla Jr.
“I am ecstatic that 19 of us colleagues in the Senate have come together to support the SOGIESC bill. Sa isang araw lang, nahikayat natin sila na pumirma sa committee report. Mas lalo akong nabuhayan ng loob na sa Kongresong ito, maipapasa na sa wakas ang SOGIE bill (I am ecstatic that 19 of us colleagues in the Senate have come together to support the SOGIESC bill. We were able to convince them to sign the committee report in just a day. I am confident that the SOGIE bill will finally be passed this 19th Congress),” Hontiveros said.
The SOGIESC equality bill prohibits discriminatory practices on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics, such as refusing admission to or expelling a person from any educational or training institution, imposing disciplinary sanctions harsher than customary that infringe on the rights of students, and refusing or revoking accreditation of organizations,
groups, political parties, or institutions, among others.
The penalties include a fine of not less than P100,000, but not more than P250,000 or imprisonment of not less than one year, but not more than six years.
The bill also penalizes those who deny access to emergency and/or necessary health services on the basis of a person’s SOGIESC. The penalties include a fine of not less than P100,000, but not more than P300,000, or imprisonment of not less than six months, but not more than two years and four months.
The SOGIESC bill also explicitly states that nothing in the law should be interpreted as to disturb the exercise of parental authority or academic freedom.
Hontiveros said Jessica Stern, US Special Envoy to advance LGBTQIA+ rights, is optimistic that the passage of the SOGIESC bill in the country will help the global discourse on LGBTQIA+ amid the growing hate and violence against members of the community worldwide.
Hontiveros shared Stern’s views after the two recently met where the senator told the envoy that the said measure can be finally passed into law.
“This is a bill whose time has come. I deeply appreciate the growing support for the bill, and I am also delighted to have shared with the US envoy the good news that 18 out of 24 senators signed the committee report of the SOGIESC bill,” Hontiveros said.“As senator, I first filed the SOGIE equality bill in the 17th Congress. In the 18th Congress, I refiled and sponsored it. However, it did not go beyond second reading. I am positive that this 19th Congress, we will finally make it. The support from the majority of my colleagues is a small, but significant, sign of hope in taking this forward,” she added.
