MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is leaving it to lawmakers to decide on the fate of the Sexual

Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Equality bill, presidential spokesman Salvador
Panelo said yesterday.

“With respect to any bill, the discretion the wisdom will always lie on the lawmakers,” Panelo said.

The SOGIE bill is facing an uphill battle at the Senate after Senate President Vicente Sotto III and several
other senators expressed no need for such measure since there are enough provisions in the law, giving
equal protection to all sexes.

Regardless if the measure is being strongly supported by the President, Panelo said the Senate and the
House of Representatives will decide on it independently, as they are collegial bodies independent from
Malacañang.

“Still, even if the President supports it, if the Congress disagrees. That’s how the so-called balance of
power and checks and balances operate,” Panelo said.

The Palace maintains the stance even after President Duterte met with transgender woman Gretchen
Diez and other LGBTQ rights advocates at Malacañang last week.

Diez recently figured in an altercation with a janitress in a Quezon City mall, which revived debates over
anti-discrimination issue.

Sotto said proponents of the SOGIE Equality bill tried to “smuggle” a provision of allowing same-sex
marriage.

He pointed out that although Sen. Risa Hontiveros said same-sex marriage was not mentioned in the
proposed measure, there was a provision that says that any government agency that refuses or fails to
grant same-sex marriage license can be held for discrimination.
“So, if we are both male, then we can secure a marriage license. If you will not grant you can be jailed,
penalized. What does it mean? Same sex marriage,” he said in Filipino during an interview over DWIZ.

He added the proponents could simply opt to delete that provision.

“But you also mentioned that (provision) in the House version although it was deleted. But when this
reaches the bicam level, you will put it in again. We cannot allow those to reach the bicam level,” he also
said.

The Senate President cited that the SOGIE bill only focuses on gay rights but the lesbians do not even
stand to benefit from it.

He said that the equal rights that the transgenders are calling for might affect the rights of women—
something that he will not allow to happen. He suggested that the women’s groups, academician,
religious and other stakeholders will be invited to the SOGIE hearing to get their perspectives on the
matter.

“This time I am speaking for the women. This is a women’s rights issue, it’s no longer a transgender
rights issue because, in my view, the bodies of women are temples and the toilets, to them, are sacred.
We could not just allow someone to enter the women’s toilets because it is there that they are at their
weakest,” Sotto also said.

He maintained that the SOGIE bill is just redundancy of the anti-discrimination bill.

Sotto revealed that he has been receiving letters, which indicated that the alleged discrimination
incident at a mall in Quezon City could be scripted to get public attention and press the passage of the
SOGIE bill. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/08/25/1946181/its-congress-act-sogie-bill-

palace#MYv02ej7tfq3IdTh.99
Pagpasa sa SOGIE bill muling ipinanawagan ni Hontiveros

Muling iginiit ni Senadora Risa Hontiveros na maipasa na ang Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and
Expression (SOGIE) equality bill matapos ang nangyaring diskriminasyon sa transwoman sa isang mall sa
Cubao, Quezon City dahil sa paggamit sa banyo na pambabae.

Noong Agosto 13, pinosasan pa si Gretchen Custodio Diez at dinala sa isang police station sa Cubao dahil
sa paggamit sa banyo na pambabae.

Si Hontiveros ang may-akda ng naturang panukala sa Senado.

“Sa mga nagsasabing hindi na natin kailangan ng SOGIE Equality Law kasi tanggap na naman ang LGBT sa
Pinas: A transwoman has just been humiliated in a mall restroom in Cubao. Pinosasan at dinala sa
Karingal!” giit ni Hontiveros.

“She is being harassed for living her truth. Discrimination against transgender people has to STOP! LGBT
persons face harassment & discrimination every day. This must STOP!” dagdag pa niya.

Nagpadala na umano si Hontiveros ng abogado para tulungan si Diez sa kaso nito.

“Gretchen has my full support. I am extending whatever help she would need to seek justice,” anang
senadora.
Pinabulaanan ni Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ang mga naglabasang datos kung saan makikita ang
mabilis na pagtaas ng wildfire cases sa Brazil.

Itinuturo ng libo-libong aktibista at environmentalists sa mga polisiya na ipinatupad ni Bolsonaro ang

umano’y dahilan kung bakit hanggang ngayon ay patuloy pa rin na nasusunog ang Amazon Rainforest.

Batay sa National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ikinagulat umano nila ang balitang
pagkasunog ng malaking bahagi ng naturang gubat dahil “fire-resistant” umano ito.

Ayon naman kay Bolsonaro, walang sapat na ebidensya ang mga non-government organizations (NGO)
upang mapatunayan kung ano ang naging sanhi ng malawakang pagkasunog ng nasabing gubat.

Nakapagtala naman ang National Institute for Space Research (INPE) ng halos 74,000 wildfires ngayong
taon kung saan ito ay mas mataas ng 84% noong 2018.

Ang Amazon Rainforest ay kilala bilang “lungs of the Earth” dahil 20% ng oxygen sa mundo ay dito
nagmumula. Itinuturing din na matinding pananggala ang Amazon laban sa global warming dahil sa
kakayahan nito na i-absorb ang carbon dioxide sa buong mundo.

Brazil ang may pinaka-malaking share sa 670 million hectares (60%) ng naturang gubat. Naging tahanan
na rin ito ng maraming uri ng mga hayop at halamang gubat.