EDITORIAL

A reason to stop SOGIE bill

THE Provincial Health Office confirmed that 97 HIV cases more have been reported in
Pangasinan, nearing the 1,000 mark with 767 cases already confirmed since it started
monitoring cases that tested in the province.

Obviously, the number does not include those who continue to be in denial and or refuse to
be tested out of embarrassment or to avoid public stigma.

The more worrisome aspect of this finding is that boys as young as 15 years old are
contracting the disease because of the sexual lifestyle that children are being exposed to.

It is precisely this sexual lifestyle that the propose SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender
Identity Expression) law aims to institutionalize in the country. It will also grant members
of the LGBTQA+ (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgenders, Queers, Asexual and others)
special privileges, basic of which is to be exempt from specifications that require traditional
differentiation between men and women.

If SOGIE becomes law, we can expect the worsening trend in the spread of HIV and
contracting AIDS to be aggravated with more youngsters feeling privileged yet uninformed
of the health risks of their chosen entitled lifestyle.

As if legal conflicts that will arise from the law that will extinguish differences in use of
public facilities is not enough, a SOGIE law will surely engender a health crisis in the
country.

Pangasinan’s representatives in Congress must do all to block the passage of the proposed
SOGIE law.

Are they serious?

IN a bid to silence Leni Robredo after blasting yet again the administration’s unrelenting
war on drugs, President Duterte offered her the job as “drug czar.” Or is it “drug czarina?”
Robredo, the vice president and chief voice of the Opposition, balked and promptly termed
the President’s offer as maybe “another joke again.” She said she’ll give it a serious thought
once the President is serious enough to repeat the offer. But the situation suddenly took a
radical twist when Robredo’s allies dared the President to step down and hand his
remaining three years at Malacanang to Robredo.

Are they serious? Or have they become jerks? People voted Mr. Duterte to rule for six
years. Are they leading the President to harm’s way by luring him to renege on his sworn
duty to serve the people as mandated by his six-year tenure in office. When will Robredo
and her ilk ever see the light? Come on, fellas, grow up!