On Monday, August 18, Intersex Philippines launched their project I.N.T.E.R.S.E.X.: Informing the Nation, Transforming Engagement, and Raising Support for Equality and eXistence. With the project, the organization aims to engage with legislators, national government agencies, and media stakeholders to raise public awareness and foster institutional support for the rights and visibility of intersex Filipinos.
Among the group’s main priorities is to lobby for the passage of the Cagandahan Bill, which allows for an intersex person to petition for changes to their registered sex and first name, supported by a medical certificate, without having to go through the Supreme Court. They are also pushing for the inclusion of intersex conditions in the Rare Diseases Act and the Universal Health Care Act, especially as some intersex-related health complications can be fatal without the right treatment.
Jeff Cagandahan, executive director of Intersex Philippines and the leading figure for intersex advocacy in the country, pointed out that 1.7 percent of the world’s population is intersex, citing the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. While it seems like a small chunk of the global population, it also amounts to around 130 million individuals with intersex traits. In the Philippines, the intersex population is still unaccounted for, but the Cagandahan Bill, named after Jeff, may help with their institutional visibility.
In the 19th Congress, former Bataan First District Representative Geraldine Roman and Senator Risa Hontiveros both filed the Cagandahan Bill in the lower and upper houses, but while the House bill saw progress and was assigned to a committee, the Senate bill did not even reach a first reading in the plenary.
In a June 2025 interview with Rolling Stone Philippines, Cagandahan said, “We hope that in the 20th Congress, mas marami nang susuporta sa amin,” after expressing disappointment in the lack of movement in the Senate.
The following week, on June 30, Bataan First District Rep. Antonino “Tony” Roman III, brother of Geraldine, refiled the bill in the 20th Congress. And in a video message, Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña also promised to push for the Cagandahan Bill, along with other LGBTQ policies like the SOGIE Equality Bill and a nationalized Right to Care program.
In his speech at the launch, Attorney Erwin Caliba, chief of the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) Legal, Legislative, and Government Division, said the CHR believes that intersex people’s right to recognition before the law is “fundamental and human right enshrined in the Constitution.”
“Recognition before the law is not a privilege,” Caliba said. “It is a prerequisite for other human rights: the right to work, healthcare, education, and participating in public life without fear of harassment. Denying or delaying this right for intersex persons amounts to a form of systemic discrimination that our laws must urgently correct.”
