MANILA, Philippines — “He is not God.”
Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman gave her thoughts on Cibac Party Rep. Eduardo Eddie Villanueva after the latter stirred chaos in the House committee hearing on the proposed measures seeking to outlaw discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (Sogie).
“Bigla nalang siyang mag-ba-barge in tapos sasabihin niya, kailangan i-defer niyo ito. Well, hindi naman siya ang Diyos,” she said in an interview with INQside Look.
(He’ll just barge in and say we need to defer this. Well, he is not God.)
Villanueva, founder of the Jesus is Lord church, unexpectedly interrupted a House panel discussion of eight proposed Sogie Equality bills. He deemed the bills illegal and labeled it “forum shopping,” a clever tactic to get around the law.
READ: Villanueva halts House hearing on Sogie bills; calls it ‘illegal’ due to forum shopping
“He’s not in a position to declare our meeting legal or illegal,” Roman said. “As far as I’m concerned, as the chairperson of the committee on women and gender equality, I already had the clearance to hold that meeting and to tackle the Sogie Equality bill. He was barking at the wrong tree.”
If Villanueva had concerns with the postponement of the proposed measure or accusations of forum shopping, Roman called on the congressman to take it up with the House committee on rules since she already secured the go-ahead and scheduled to proceed with the hearing.
Roman also pointed out that she had accepted Villanueva as part of her commitment to giving him a window to share his ideas and suggestions.
“Although I know they are not really women’s rights nor gender equality advocates, I accepted them in the spirit of democracy. Just so they won’t say we are trying to railroad specific legislative measures, because this is how we work in Congress. We listen to both sides. And we try to come up with a win-win situation wherein their ideas, their suggestions are included and reflected in the outcome of our deliberations, whenever possible,” she said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.
Roman then drew the line between the Sogie Equality bill and the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination bill, which, she believes, “go hand in hand.”
She noted that the movers seeking to shoot down the Sogie Equality bill are the same people pushing to remove sexual orientation and gender identity and expression among the “protected attributes” of the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination bill.
“That’s a contradiction. That’s quite ironic […] That’s selectively eliminating sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and an entire collective of people with diverse Sogie. What is this anti-discrimination bill – comprehensive or selective?” Roman pressed.
While Villanueva interrupted, the House panel hearing on the Sogie Equality bill, his son – Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva – sought to refer the Senate counterpart of the proposed law to the chamber’s committee on rules, which he chairs.
READ: Villanueva father, son raise concerns at House, Senate talks on Sogie bill
READ: Faith factor delays Sogie bill in Senate
Several advocacy groups like the University of the Philippines Babaylan called the decades-long delay in the passage of the Sogie Equality bill a “blatant attack on the rights of the LGBTQI+ community and the rights of all Filipinos.”
Roman asserted that the Sogie Equality bill seeks to outlaw any form of discrimination based on one’s Sogie, which every individual has and is not exclusive to members of the LGBTQI+ community.
KGA/abc
READ: Terrible misconceptions: Why we need the Sogie Equality Bill