Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Bill gets House panel OK

Plenary Hall of the House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The House committee on human rights approved Thursday a measure seeking to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, color, sex, gender, religious expression, and political opinion, among others.

During its online meeting, the committee approved the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Bill, subject to amendments, following a number of hearings and long debates among lawmakers, particularly on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity expression (SOGIE).

Under the measure, discrimination that is directly or indirectly based on the actual or perceived ethnicity, race, color, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, language, religious expression or belief, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth, and other status are prohibited.

The measure likewise prohibits discrimination based on disability, age, nationality, marital and family status, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation, maternity, and pregnancy.

Acts of discrimination, as defined in the measure, include denial of the right to political participation, denial of the right to organize, denial of the right to employment, and denial of the right to education and training.

Other acts of discrimination, as defined in the measure, are as follows:

• Denial of the right to reasonable accommodation;
• Denial on the right to access of goods and services;
• Denial of right to access or publish advertisements and mass media;
• Denial of right against wrongful portrayal;
• Denial of the right to access places, facilities, and modes of transportation for public use and to attend
• meetings open to the public;
• Denial of the freedom of speech, utterances, acts of hatred, and similar acts;
• Denial of the right to health and well-being;
• Denial of the right against profiling;
• Denial of protection against inflicting stigma;
• Denial of right against illegal detention and confinement

The bill likewise prohibits inciting others to commit acts of discrimination.

Under the measure, all agencies, corporations, companies, and educational institutions as well as any person providing employment, housing, and education and delivery of basic goods shall create a non-discrimination and equal opportunity committee.

The committee shall, among others, conduct the initial investigation of cases constituting discrimination.

/MUF