Senate chief: Anti-discrimination bill has ‘better chance’ than SOGIESC

MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero believes that the anti-discrimination bill has a better chance of getting Senate approval than the proposed SOGIESC Equality Act.

SOGIESC stands for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.

The United Nations Population Fund made a fresh push for the bill’s passage to celebrate Pride Month this June.

“Sa pagkakaalam ko may mga panukalang amendment dito sa bill na ito bago ito tuluyang maipasa,”  Escudero said in an interview at the Senate.

(As far as I know, there were proposed amendments to this bill before it was finally passed.)

“Pero sa kwentuhan din bago pa man ako naging tagapangulo ng Senado, mas malaki ang tiyansa na pumasa ang anti-discrimination kumpara sa SOGIESC bill unless nga ang mga amendments ay mapagbibigyan,” he added.

(But in conversations even before I became the Senate president, the anti-discrimination bill had a greater chance of passing compared to the SOGIESC bill unless the amendments are accommodated.)

Escudero pointed out that the SOGIESC bill differs from another anti-discrimination measure being pushed in Congress.

“Unless the proponents of the SOGIE bill accede to some amendments, it will continue to face rough sailing in the Senate,” he said in a separate statement to reporters.

“The anti-discrimination bill, I believe, has a better chance of passing this year…,” he said.

The Senate chief was among the 18 senators who signed a report on the SOGIESC bill prepared by Senate committees on women and finance in December 2022.

Until now, however, the bill remains pending at the Senate committee on rules.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, head of the committee on women, pinned her hope on the new Senate leadership.

According  to her, the number of senators who affixed their signature to the committee report  “should speak to its acceptability across the aisle.”

“I have asked the Majority Leader to look into the committee report, which has remained pending in the Committee on Rules, and he has promised to do so,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“Sana ang bagong liderato ng Senado ay tumindig para sa ating LGBTQIA+ community ngayong Pride Month at pati na rin sa araw-araw nilang pamumuhay bilang mga tao,” she  further said.

(I hope the new Senate leadership stands up for our LGBTQIA+ community this Pride Month and their everyday lives.)

In May last year, the House of Representatives also approved its version of the bill at the committee level.