Human Rights Online Philippines

It’s back to square one for the bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression — after the Senate failed to tackle the longest-running bill in the period of interpellations in the upper chamber at the end of the 17th Congress session.

After 902 calendar days since Senator Risa Hontiveros sponsored it, and having languished at second reading, the counterpart SOGIE equality bill at the Senate was not approved.

On the last day of Senate sessions, Hontiveros lamented at the pace the Senate attended to the bill.

“It was one of the first bills sponsored in 2016. Should we still debate about something as basic as equality? For three years? Really?” Hontiveros said.

The SOGIE bill, which was first drafted 19 years ago, was passed by the House of Representatives in 2017 with unanimous support from 198 lawmakers without abstentions or dissent. SOGIE refers to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression.

Its Senate version was first filed in August 11, 2016. Hontiveros sponsored the measure in December 14 of the same year.

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