The common misconception that the proposed SOGIE Equality bill is just for the LGBTQIA+ community is a huge factor as to why it has yet to gain ground, House Committee on Women and Gender Equality chairperson Geraldine Roman said Monday.
SOGIE stands for sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, which every person has.
“Many people think SOGIE is just for one marginalized group, a minority [one at that] which is the LGBTQIA+ community. Maaring ito ang dahilan kung bakit hindi siya nabibigyan ng karampatang kahalagahan. But the truth of the matter is that the SOGIE Equality bill will benefit all,” the Bataan congresswoman said in a press conference.
(Maybe this is the reason why the bill is not being given its appropriate worth.)
“Kung ikaw ay isang straight guy and you are applying for a job and then you are discriminated against, kahit na qualified ka, dahil pinagkamalan kang gay or bakla [even if you are qualified, because you are mistaken for gay], you can use the SOGIE equality bill. But then again, how many cases like that happen in our country when it’s [usually] the other way around? Normally it is the LGBTQIA+ community that is being discriminated against,” added Roman, the Philippines’ first openly transgender lawmaker.
She added that lawmakers should draft laws that will take people out of their marginalized situation, and lamented that there are some in the Senate who are not even willing to discuss the merits of the SOGIE measure.
“The problem is that our friends, some friends in the Senate, simply do not want to hear of the SOGIE Equality bill. If you recall, it was passed in the [Senate] Committee on Women and Family Relations led by Senator Risa Hontiveros. But it was hijacked,” Roman said, without naming names.
“Instead of being discussed at the plenary…it was sent back, remanded to the Committee on Rules. When, for the longest time, the SOGIE Equality bill has always been heard in the Committee on Women and Family Relations. For what reason? Strategic maneuverings, perhaps? And they promised we will discuss it soonest. Ang tagal na na-‘soonest’ na yan siguro dapat sinulat natin ‘forthwith’,” she added.
(That ‘soonest’ is taking so long. We should have stated ‘forthwith.’)
Wives equal to husbands
Likewise, Roman said that another measure that merits passage into law is the proposed amendment to the Family Code which places the wife on equal footing in making decisions for the family.
“Did you know that under the Family Code, there are 11 articles that actually give priority to the husband? It is always the husband who has the final say. For one, on property issues. You want to sell a house? Payag na yung buong pamilya, kailangan ng pamilya ‘yung pera [na makukuha sa pagbebenta]. Pero pag sinabi ng husband, ay, ayoko, siya pa rin naman susunod,” Roman said.
(Even if the whole family already agrees to sell the house because the family needs money, they cannot sell the house if the husband is against it.)
Roman also said a son or a daughter who is already of legal age to marry cannot do so if the patriarch does not consent to it.
“There’s something intrinsically unfair about these 11 articles in the Family Code. And for the longest time in the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality, we want this changed because this is a remnant, a vestige of the old regime that gives men priority over women—kala mo naman lahat ng lalaking matino [as if all men are sensible],” she said.
“What we’re asking for is just equal standing in the family structure, and that’s why we are pushing for this,” she added.
Both the SOGIE bill and the amendment to the Family Code have been sponsored before the plenary, but they have not progressed beyond that.
Roman expressed hope that the House will use its six remaining session days in June to approve the measure in second and third reading.
“We are still hopeful that for the last six session days, we can act on these measures. Being a progressive lawmaker is not just about words. It is about action and producing results,” she added. — BM, GMA Integrated News
