Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy. (Photo from her Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker is calling for an investigation in the House of Representatives on the abuses against the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer plus) community following the brutal killing of transgender man Ebeng Mayor.
Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera-Dy pointed out that Mayor’s case was only “the latest among many cases of rape, murder, assaults, and abuse of LGBTQ+ citizens young and old in recent memory.”
“Nakikiusap ako sa liderato ng Kamara, kay Speaker Lord Allan Velasco at sa mga pinuno ng House Committee on Women and Gender Equality, Committee on Justice, Committee on Revision of Laws, at Committee on Public Order and Safety upang isulong ang isang masusing imbestigasyon, in aid of legislation, sa mga karahasan na nararanasan ng mga kasapi ng LGBTQ+ community, kabilang na ang rape-murder kay Ebeng Mayor ng Quezon City,” Herrera-Dy said in a statement.
(I am asking the leadership of the lower House, to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and the heads of the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality, Committee on Justice, Committee on Revision of Laws, and Committee on Public Order and Safety to pursue a stringent investigation, in aid of legislation, against the violence being experienced by our fellows in the LGBTQ+ community, including the rape and murder of Ebeng Mayor of Quezon City.)
Herrera-Dy made the call days after Mayor’s body was found in a vacant lot at Sitio Bakal, Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the three suspects behind Mayor’s killing have been arrested and formally charged before the prosecutor’s office.
For Herrera-Dy, the suspects in the case “deserve to suffer the most severe punishment our laws provide, which is life in prison without parole.”
“We in Congress want to know how well or not LGBTQ+ cases are handled. We want to know the success rate from investigation to arrest to prosecution, to court trial and to conviction. We want to know why such cases fail and the extent of non-reporting of LGBTQ+ abuse, rape, and murder,” Herrera-Dy said.
“I will work with my colleagues to call for the immediate investigation of how LGBTQ+ rape, murder, assault, and abuse cases are handled at barangays, police precincts, and other law enforcement points of contact in communities, schools, homes, and cyberspace,” she added.
Currently, there are 15 pending SOGIE bills (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) in the current 18th Congress.
In the 17th Congress, the House approved the SOGIE bill on final reading but its counterpart bill in the Senate only languished in the period of interpellation.