Senator Imelda “Imee” Marcos on Tuesday urged President Duterte to certify the measure pushing for a comprehensive anti-discrimination law as urgent.
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Marcos made the call after the President granted absolute pardon to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton who was convicted for the murder of transgender Jennifer Laude.
“The outcry against Pemberton’s pardon despite the horrific killing of transgender Jennifer Laude will never be fully appeased until the bills on SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression) are passed by Congress and signed into law,” Marcos said.
“Now it behooves us to guarantee that violence against the LGBT+ community and other victims of discrimination is never repeated,” she added.
Marcos had earlier filed her own version of the SOGIE bill last year, and at a time religious groups and a largely Catholic population voiced their strong opposition to the measure.
Marcos pointed out the penalties and benefits accorded to Pemberton are contained in the country’s Revised Penal Code where the amended provisions on good conduct time allowance (GCTA) were signed into law in 2013 by then President Benigno Aquino III.
“The observance of law must not be replaced with an indulgence of emotion, nor the call for justice be replaced with a call for revenge,” she said.
“President Duterte has deftly cut the Gordian knot of abiding by Philippine law while balancing geopolitical interests amid the health and economic crises wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she stressed.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros had earlier described the granting of absolute pardon to Pemberton an affront to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community as well as to the whole Filipino people.
Hontiveros said such moves by the Executive department only heightened the LGBTQ community’s resentment of the government that has failed to recognize their rights and welfare.