Senate President Vicente Sotto III expressed his concern over the future of the janitress who stopped the trans woman Gretchen Diez from using a comfort room designated for women at Farmers Plaza Mall in Cubao, Quezon City.
In an interview with DZMM, Sotto said that the lawmakers should study the SOGIE bill carefully despite the publicity being received by Diez after she was stopped by janitress identified as Chayra Ganal to use a women’s bathroom and brought to Camp Karingal.
According to him, the comfort room incident who Diez got involved was only a small portion of the SOGIE bill, saying that the proposal might give more advantage to the LGBTQ+ community than the straight people.
Sotto who claimed that he already reviewed the CCTV footage from the mall management after the incident also pointed out that Ganal was only trying to help the women who complained about the presence of Diez inside the female restroom.
“Ngayon ang nakapila, paglabas nung 1 babae, nagreklamo dun sa 2 janitress ‘may lalaki dun sa loob.’ Parang ganun ang sinasabi na hindi naman nila pinansin kasi wala naman silang nakitang itsurang lalaki dun eh, di ba? May isa pa sumunod nagsabi ngayon tinuro nagsabi na sa linya daw meron daw isang hindi babae, nakabihis babae. Nilapitan nung janitress, yung Chayra, sinabi sa kanya na wag na lang dito may nagrereklamo, tinuro sya dun sa PWD or dun na lang sa PWD or sa parang isang other toilet nila. Yung third toilet nila,” Sotto said.
“So dinala nya, sumama naman. Pagdating doon, may tao sa loob pa, naghihintay sa labas so iniwan na nung janitress. After a while bumalik doon, galit na galit. Sya unang nagalit. Eh yun ang nakikita doon sa CCTV at saka dito sa mga affidavit ng mga taong nandudoon. Hindi yun ang lumabas na istorya sa Senado di ba?” he added.
Sotto also pointed out that the poor janitress’ life and her family were also affected by the issue and being criticized by the netizens.
He said that Diez didn’t show the whole story on her viral video.
“Even itong nag viral na video tungkol sa kawawang babae, sya ngayon ang napapag-initan. Pero ang totoo nun hindi ganun ang totoong istorya. Baka mawalan ng trabaho yung kawawang janitress eh. Papano ngayon yung pag-aaral ng mga anak? Ang pinalabas kasi yung kalahati nung video. Hindi pinakita ano nangyari before.”
After the incident, it was reported that Famers Plaza disowned the janitress and apologize to the trans woman.
While Diez received the attention of several politicians, big media companies and celebrities, Ganal only got interviewed by very few reporters like PressOne.PH
In her interview, Ganal said that Diez told her that she’s going to be famous on the internet for stopping her from using women’s restroom.
“Sabi niya, ‘Hindi ito picture, ate, live ito, kaway ka, kaway ka, naka-live video ito, promise sisikat ka,” Ganal said.