An advocate of the SOGIE Bill said that parents should not assume the gender of the newborn baby because someday they might learn that their guess may be wrong.

During the Senate Committee hearing on the said bill, Lagalab LGBT Network President Naomi Fontanos showed a presentation to the lawmakers explaining the difference between gender identity and biological characteristics.

“Example, I identify myself as a transwoman, my gender identity is female, but I’m attracted to males for now… so currently I’m exclusively heterosexual identifying,” Fontanos said.

“But I have sisters or transwomen just like me who are attracted to other women,” she added.

She mentioned the case of Angelina Mead King who kept her relationship with her wife Joey Mead who’s a female despite coming out as a trans woman.

After the presentation, Senator Nancy Binay who was very curious about the topic asked Fontanos

Binay asked the difference between her as a person born as a female who’s attracted to male and other gender identities.

“Ma’am you were born a baby and you are assigned as female at birth, but your gender identity matches your gender assignment at birth,” Fontanos told Binay.

The Senator followed it up with a question asking Fontanos if she wants to stop labeling the gender of babies in their birth certificate after they were born.

The LGBTQ+ advocate answered it by saying that as much as possible people should not assume the baby’s gender by putting Male or Female on their birth certificates.

“In our case as trans people, as a transwoman, I was assigned male at birth. It was incorrect, it was just a guess and it was a wrong guess. gender assignment is predictive, it is not final,” 

Fontanos added that in some first world countries like New Zealand and Australia, the parents could now choose if they wanted to include the gender of their baby on their birth certificate.

According to her, some parents in the said countries may put “x” or “double dash” to the gender information of their baby to show that they’re not assuming the gender of their child.

The same system also applied to their passports so they could address their gender freely.

“Basta if the x or double dash is indicated, therefore they’re not male or female. So if they pass the immigration for example or having a business, then the people doing business with them have to ask ‘how would you like to be addressed, how would you like to be called?'” she said.

Not only the Manila City Government is the one planning to bring back the Marcos-era Nutribun program in their place, even Marikina City already implemented the said project to solve the malnutrition in their jurisdiction.

According to Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, he wanted the children in his place to avoid suffering from hunger while they’re studying.

He said that public school students of Marikina City who are studying from kindergarten to Grade would receive a piece of the free nutritious bread with a free glass of milk.

There are around 21,000 kinder and Grade 1 public school students in the city.

“Sa public schools maraming undernourished, kaya ang intervention namin ay feeding program,” Marcelino said.

“We found out na ang ibang bata ay walang mga baon kaya wala silang makain na masustansya,” he added.

Mayor Marcelino and Mayor Isko Moreno

Teodoro also revealed that their nutribun is made up of nutritious ingredients like, eggs, squash, and malunggay.

Marikina City Government is aiming to end malnutrition by next year.

Nutribun program became popular under the leadership of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s.

The government took over the production of the bread in 1975 which originally came from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The said program was considered a success after the rate of malnutrition in the Philippines fell drastically.

Some Marikeño who lived during the Marcos period said that the nutribun made by the Marikina City government tasted like the bread made during the 1970s however, the current version of it is softer.

Despite the bad weather, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is still doing their job to serve the people by giving them free ride under “Oplan Libreng Sakay.”

Manila Police District started the “Oplan Libreng Sakay” to assist the people who are stranded during the bad weather on Thursday.

The photos were taken at Sampaloc, Manila shows the cops enduring the flood just to prevent the civilians from getting wet.

Cops are using chairs to help the civilians from passing the flooded area, while some of them decided to carry the people to make the job faster.

MPD also used their mobiles to help the stranded civilians to arrive on their destination.

“Due to bad weather condition, this afternoon of August 2, 2019, different PCP’s of this Station conducted “Oplan Libreng Sakay” utilizing their respective Mobile Patrol and assisting stranded passengers on flooded areas following the heavy downpour caused by tropical storm enhances Southwest Monsoon (Habagat).” Sampaloc MPD Manila said in their post.

“Nothing’s gonna stop us!” they added.

Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno also praised the cops for serving the people despite the bad weather.

“Thank you Gen. Danao and Sampaloc Mpd Manila police sa pagtulong nyo sa mga kababayan natin na stranded sa baha! Keep it up,” Moreno said.

While the netizens praised the cops for doing their job, some of them expressed their concern because the police are not wearing any boots to protect their feet from the dirty flood water.

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.

While the Gretchen Diez received all the attention of the press, politicians and netizens, a janitress who stopped the viral trans woman from using a women bathroom in Quezon City finally shared her version of her story about the incident.

In an interview with PressOne, Chayra Ganal, the janitress who worked at Farmers Plaza Mall in Cubao, Quezon City narrated how she tried to ask Diez to use the men’s restroom because some women complained about the presence of the trans woman in the comfort room designated for females.

“Ma’am dito na po tayo sa CR ng lalaki.’ `Yung PWD hindi ko na po sa kanya na-offer `yun dahil dami din pong nakapila. `Yung sa CR kasi po ng lalaki nakita ko du’n walang pila, walang tao,”

According to Ganal, Diez may use the cubicles inside the male restroom, however, the trans woman rejected the offer of the janitress and started to Livestream the incident.

Ganal admitted that she was surprised that Diez suddenly took a photo and video of her which made her temper boil.

“Imbis na po siya mag-CR du’n, kinuha niya po `yung cellphone niya, tinapat niya po sa mukha ko, sabi ko, ‘Ma’am bakit n’yo po ako kinukunan ng picture,” Ganal said.

“Sabi niya, ‘Hindi ito picture, ate, live ito, kaway ka, kaway ka, naka-live video ito, promise sisikat ka,’” she added.

When Diez told her that there are already 10 people watching her live video, the janitress tried to protect her privacy by blocking the phone of Diez. She also told the security officer of the mall about the acts of the trans woman.

The janitress was also reportedly fainted at the police station where Diez was brought.

She also claimed that Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman who rushed to the police station confronted her and told her to “shut up”.

After the incident, Ganal’s Facebook account was hacked by someone while her family was receiving hate messages from some netizens.

Meanwhile, Rep. Roman denied the accusations of the janitress, saying that the latter was the one who ignored her while explaining the importance of LGBT rights.

“I, as a congresswoman, I’m used to listening to all opinions. I would never tell anyone to shut up. It’s very unfair of her. And I have the video.” Roman said.

The incident sparked the debate on the implementation of the SOGIE equality bill and the proposal to add a restroom exclusively for the LGBTQ+ people.

Source

Senator Lito Lapid revealed that he’s not confident of letting the members of the LGBTQ+ community use the toilet designated for female.

In an interview, Lapid said that there’s no need for passing a law to avoid inequality among all genders, but an additional comfort room designated for lesbian and gay should be built.

He explained that if members of the LGBTQ+ were legally allowed to use the female bathroom, some lawbreakers might use this as an excuse to do their bad acts against women.

“Kung itutuloy ang sinasabi nila na ang mga kapatid na bakla pupunta dun sa babae, eh ang dami magaling na magbakla-baklaan,” Lapid said.

He also pointed out that some cities already implemented anti-inequality ordinances that would disallow anyone to reject the LGBTQ+ people to use the comfort room they want.

“Hindi na siguro. Katulad ng Quezon City, lokal lamang nagawa nila hindi lang na implement, dapat maimplement. Napalaki ang issue dahil may nasaktan, may naagrabyado, hindi alam na me batas na pala,” Lapid said.

Lapid made the statement in the middle of the discussion on the possible implementation of the SOGIE equality bill that would give more freedom and protection to the LGBTQ+ community.

Trans woman Gretchen Diez sparked the topic of LGBTQ+ rights after she was rejected by a mall staff to use a comfort room designated for women.

She was even handcuffed and brought to Camp Karingal because of fighting for her rights.

Diez received support from high profile politicians like President Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Leni Robredo and Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman.

It seems that President Rodrigo Duterte would side with the LGBTQ+ community after the palace informed the press that the chief executive would push for a separate comfort room for them.

During a press conference on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the President believes that a separate restroom for the LGBTQ+ would be the best solution to avoid another case of inequity.

“Ang sinasabi niya, dapat meron ng third restroom for them. Sinabi niya, pinag-usapan namin iyon kahapon,” Panelo said.

Panelo also said that there are still people in the Philippines who are not comfortable with sharing their restroom with the LGBTQ+ so a third restroom may give more comfort to all gender.

“Tama naman iyon, ako I agree na kailangan talaga may third restroom for them para wala nang problema di ba, that will solve everything. Kasi papasok ka sa female, siyempre hindi rin komportable iyong mga babae, alam nilang lalaki pala iyon; ganundin sa kabila, di ba. So the best is you have a third restroom for them, di wala nang problema,” Panelo explained.

Several hours after the press conference, President Rodrigo Duterte met Gretchen Diez, the trans woman who sparked the discussion about the SOGIE Equality Bill.

Diez was accompanied by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and Bataan first district Rep. Geraldine Roman who’s also a trans woman.

The Palace is not yet releasing any information about the meeting.

Diez experienced unfair treatment in a female restroom in Cubao, the police even handcuffed her and brought to Camp Karingal.

The incident involving Diez received mixed reaction among netizens.

Mayor Isko Moreno expressed disappointment to the officers of Manila Police District (MPD) Station 9 for not doing their job in the middle of the night.

Moreno on Monday midnight was roaming around Manila when he noticed a bunch of tricycles illegally parked near the Ospital ng Maynila medical center.

He also saw that some of the owners of the tricycle decided to sleep in the said area, some of them even used it as their bathroom.

The Mayor was very disappointed and angry when he realized that the illegally parked vehicles are only a block away near an MPD-9 station, so he decided to visit the cops assigned in the said area.

“Isang kanto lang sa kanila hindi sila makapag gobyerno, gigisingin ko lang ang mga dugo niyo,” Moreno said.

“Halika ituturo ko sa inyo kung paano mag trabaho, katabi ninyo lang hindi ninyo maayos,” he added.

He became more displeased when he found out that there’s no official supervising the cops at MPD Station 9.

“Eh sino kayong lahat kayo dito puro kayo tolongges?” he told the cops.

The Mayor then accompanied the cops to show the illegally park tricycles near their station.

“Isang bloke lang sa inyo yan pero hindi niyo makita? o wala nalang kayong pakialam? Ang panghi panghi hindi ninyo naamoy?” Moreno told the cops.

Moreno then quickly left the area saying that he would relieve the officers of the said station for not doing their duty.

“Kailangan ko pa bang ituro kung paano nila gagawin yung trabaho nila,” Moreno said.

Mayor Isko Moreno caught two traffic violators during his night roaming around Manila City on Sunday.

While on his way to a public hospital, Moreno caught an illegally parked jeepney.

At first, the Moreno tried to ask the driver of the jeep to move. However, the latter showed a rude behavior and didn’t quickly cooperate because he never notices that the Manila City mayor itself was the one asking him to place his vehicle in the right place.

“Brad, brad baka gusto mong umabante?” Moreno told the jeepney driver.

“Eto na nga umaabante na nga eh!” the driver replied.

The response of the driver irritated Moreno because it seems that the former didn’t like being called out for his traffic violation.

“Teka lang ha… matapang pa eh, hulihin mo nga chief,” Moreno told one of his staff.

Moreno came out of his vehicle to personally confiscate the license of the driver who only scratches his head after he realized that the one called him out was the Mayor itself.

“Pasensya ka na po sir,” he told Moreno.

“Galit ka pa kasi kanina eh,” Moreno replied.

Moreno also confiscated the license of a delivery truck after they tried to u-turn in an undesignated area.

He then reminded the violators that even at late hours, the city government of Manila is watching them.

“May gobyerno na ang Maynila ah,” Moreno said.

The Mayor then returned the license to the driver of the delivery truck and warned them not to violate traffic rules again even if they don’t see any authorities watching them.

When Moreno returned to his car, he told his followers that some jeepney drivers are angry when being called out for their traffic violation.

“Noong sinisita mo ang yabang pa eh… tapos noong hinuhuli na namin lahat na ng kuto inabot, pati lisa yata nagkaroon sa ulo eh puro kamot ang inaabot, pati tiyan binalakubak kasi kinakamot eh,” Moreno said.

“Mga kababayan, hindi komo alas dose ng hating gabi babalandra sa kalye wala kayong kusa… pag hinuhuli kayo anong nangyayari? lahat ng kuto inaabot niyo, kamot dito kamot doon,” he added.