On Pride Month, Leni Robredo joins call for passage of Sogiesc bill

Former Vice President and incoming Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo from the Obama Foundation’s Facebook video

MANILA, Philippines — Former Vice President and now-incoming Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo has reiterated her call for the Congress to pass the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics (Sogiesc) bill, asserting that it is for the protection of everyone and not only of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Robredo said this in a video message played during the Pride Month event, LOV3LABAN, at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City on Saturday.

READ: Akbayan to anti-Sogiesc legislators: `Come out of your closets’

“We still have a long way to go to honor the dignity of our fellow Filipinos from the LGBTQIA+ community. We continue to push beyond the norm to expand spaces that embrace and accept everyone, regardless of their background or identity,” Robredo said in Filipino.

“We continue to call for the passage of the Sogie Equality Bill to enact guaranteed protection against discrimination, not just for LGBT individuals but for everyone,” she added.

Robredo likewise emphasized that Pride Month serves as a reminder of “love,” since the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies gather to call for a “just world” during the celebration.

“This is an opportunity to show our collective commitment to the fight centered on the rights that should unite us as a society,” the former vice president said.

“We honor the stories of struggle and strength, of heartbreak and healing, of quiet resistance and persistent joy. We recognize that for many, simply being yourself is already an act of bravery. But our fight continues because one should never have to be brave just to exist. No one should live in fear because of who they are or who they love,” she pointed out.

In 2022, Senate Bill No. 139, or the Sogiesc Equality Act, which was filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros in July 2022, passed the committee level. However, it has been pending in the second reading since then.

Call to address HIV concern

In the same video message, Robredo calls for the government to intensify its move to address the rising cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country.

“Amid the reported increase in HIV cases in the country, we join in the call to intensify our actions to address this public health concern,” Robredo said.

READ: WHO, UNAIDS back DOH call to declare HIV public health emergency

Earlier in June, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization backed the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) to declare HIV a public health emergency.

This came after the DOH cited that the country recorded the fastest-growing number of HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region, as the number of new cases rose by a significant 550 percent from 4,400 in 2010 to 29,600 in 2024. /mr