This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill — and consequently, 25 years of inaction from the legislature to protect LGBTQ+ Filipinos from various forms of discrimination.
Its first iteration was filed by the late former Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Akbayan Representative Etta Rosales in 2000, and was followed by many other versions filed in succeeding congresses. And because the latest version — filed August 2023 — was not passed into law, one can expect another version to be filed in the 20th Congress, which convenes after the midterm elections.
The Philippines also lacks legislation to accommodate sex change in official documents without a judicial order, and still does not recognize same-sex unions.
Local government units (LGUs) have already enacted ordinances to protect their constituents from SOGIE-based discrimination, like provinces of Albay, Agusan del Norte, Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, the Dinagat Islands, Ilocos Sur, and Iloilo, and 32 cities and municipalities nationwide.
For now, a few other national laws are in place to protect LGBTQ+ Filipinos, but their small number and narrow scope highlight the need for a robust, comprehensive, and SOGIE-focused anti-discrimination law. Whether or not the Philippines sees the SOGIE Equality Bill passed into law now will depend on the lawmakers elected in May.
Magna Carta for Public Social Workers
Section 17 of the Magna Carta for Public Social Workers states that public social workers have the right to protection from discrimination on the grounds of “sex, sexual orientation, age, political or religious beliefs, civil status, physical characteristics/disability or ethnicity.”
Section 24 sets penalties for violation of the Magna Carta’s provisions, including the one above. Harassment and discrimination of a public social worker on the basis of their SOGIE is punishable with a fine of P20,000 to P40,000, and/or imprisonment for up to a year.
Magna Carta of Women
The Magna Carta of Women states that the government shall recognize and protect the rights and freedoms of women “without distinction or discrimination on account of class, age, sex, gender, language, ethnicity, religion, ideology, disability, education, and status.”
Violations of the Magna Carta’s provisions are punished according to the penalties set by other existing laws like the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act. These penalties are, of course, reserved for harassment against women and children. There are no specific provisions in the Magna Carta for LGBTQ+ women.
Safe Spaces Act
The Safe Spaces Act is by far the only national legislation that names specific violations against LGBTQ+ Filipinos. The law penalizes acts of harassment in public spaces, including cursing, catcalling, leering, and taunting, as well as the use of misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, and sexist slurs, and the use of words, gestures, or actions that ridicule on the basis of SOGIE.
Penalties for violating the Safe Spaces Act include fines of P1000 to P10,000, depending on the number of offenses, imprisonment of up to 30 days, and attendance to a gender sensitivity seminar to be conducted by the Philippine National Police.
Provisions of the Revised Penal Code
The Revised Penal Code (RPC) is also valuable to protecting LGBTQ+ Filipinos. Article 353 defines libel as “public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.”
Hate speech and threats to an individual may be considered libelous or defamatory. According to Article 355, libel may be punished by “prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods” — one month and one day to six months of imprisonment — or a fine ranging from P200 to P6,000.
Abuses of the Law
However, the RPC can also be weaponized against LGBTQ+ Filipinos. In October 2023, drag artist Pura Luka Vega was arrested for allegedly breaching Article 201, which penalizes “Immoral Doctrines, Obscene Publications, and Exhibitions.” The Manila police, who arrested Vega, acted on a complaint from the Hijos del Nazareno, who found Vega’s lip sync performance of an “Ama Namin” rock remix “immoral.”
Earlier, in 2010, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) initially denied the accreditation of Ladlad, an LGBTQ+ political party, citing Article 201 and stating that Ladlad promoted “immorality.” The Supreme Court overturned Comelec’s decision, allowing Ladlad to register as a political party.
Article 202, penalizing “vagrants and prostitutes,” was also used against transgender women. According to a 2015 study on the social experiences of trans people in the Philippines, police would arrest transgender women in the Philippines on vagrancy charges and extort them for money or sexual favors in exchange for freedom. Due to these abuses, vagrancy was decriminalized in 2012.
