Duterte favors same-sex civil union, not same-sex marriage

President Rodrigo Duterte is in favor of same-sex civil union but not same-sex marriage,  Malacañang said on Monday.

The Supreme Court has already begun holding oral arguments for a petition to legalize same-sex marriage Philippines.

“Kung same-sex marriage, pati si Presidente tutol. Pero ang [same-sex] union, pabor diyan si Presidente para maayos ang iba’t ibang aspeto ng pagsamama ng magkaparehong kasarian,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing in Maasin, Southern Leyte.

Roque’s statement came after the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 61 percent of Filipinos oppose civil union of same-sex couples.

READ: PH LGBT-friendly, but 61% oppose same-sex marriage

Roque had earlier said the Philippines was not yet ready for same-sex marriage, citing it might still be “too revolutionary” for the Philippines.

READ: PH not yet ready for same-sex marriage — Palace

In December 2017, Duterte said in a speech that he was in favor of changing the law to allow same-sex marriage in the Philippines.

READ: Duterte favors same-sex marriage

“I want gay marriage. The problem is we have to change the law, but we can change the law,”Duterte said in his speech before a gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in Davao City.

In 2015, then Davao City mayor Duterte told comedian and television host Vice ganda that same-sex marriage was “good,” saying “everyone deserves to be guaranteed happy.”

In the Philippines, the Catholic Church and other Christian churches remain opposed to legalizing same-sex unions.  /vvp