7 days ago
Risa Hontiveros files SOGIE equality bill anew
Senator Risa Hontiveros has refiled in the 20th Congress a bill seeking equality and protection against all forms of discrimination and violence based on a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
Hontiveros, a pro-LGBTQIA+ advocate, has long been pushing for the passage of the SOGIESC Equality Bill, which seeks to protect individuals and communities that are at a greater risk of experiencing human rights violations on the basis of SOGIESC.
The proposed piece of legislation was included in Hontiveros' top 10 priority bills for the incoming 20th Congress, which is set to convene its first session on July 28.
"For a long time, exclusion and discrimination has been the reality of persons of diverse SOGIESC. The prejudice they experience have far-reaching effects, resulting in the deprivation of their full enjoyment of fundamental human rights," the explanatory note of the unnumbered bill read.
"Addressing the human rights gap must not stop at the local and administrative level. The national government must also work to address the lack of protective legislation and supportive policies to safeguard the right of all persons against discrimination on the basis of their SOGIESC," it added.
Included as proposed discriminatory practices on the basis of the SOGIESC are:
Refusing admission or expelling a person from any educational or training institution open to the general public, including police and military academies or training institutions;
Refusing or revoking the accreditation, formal recognition, registration or plan to organize of any organization, group, political party, institution, or establishment;
Denying a person access to emergency and/or necessary health services open to the general public;
Subjecting a person deprived of liberty to extortion, physical, verbal abuse, or sexual abuse, and cruel and degrading punishment, because of their SOGIESC.
Also among Hontiveros' proposed legislative measures for the 20th Congress are the P200 Daily Minimum Wage Increase Act of 2025, Anti-ENDO and Contracting Law, Interns' Right and Welfare Act of 2025, and Anti-Hospital Detention bill. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
