Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman said that females should share the women’s bathroom with the transgender people or just ignore them if they feel uncomfortable sharing their space.

In a press conference, Roman who’s the first transgender women elected to the Congress of the Philippines said that women should also respect the rights of the other genders who only wanted to use the female restroom.

Roman also pointed out that there’s no valid reason for any woman to be uncomfortable sharing their restroom with some transgender.

She even pointed out that transgenders using the female restroom in the Congress building is already normal.

“Pumasok nalang sila sa cubicle and do their thing, wag nilang kausapin,” Roman said.

“Ano ngayon kung transgender? There’s no valid reason… if you have a problem… magtiis ka, pero h’wag mong ipagkait sa kapwa tao mo yung karapatan niyang pumunta sa banyo,” she added.

The transgender lawmaker said that incidents like what happened to trans woman Gretchen Diez might be prevented if the Congress just passed the SOGIE bill last year.

Roman urged President Rodrigo Duterte to certify SOGIE bill as urgent so it would be prioritized by the lawmakers.

She believed that it’s already the right time for the government to give equal rights to the LGBTQA+ community to prevent another inequality incident again.

Roman is one of the first lawmakers who expressed support to trans woman Gretchen Diez after a janitress stopped her from using women’s restroom.

However, it seems that the SOGIE bill would receive opposition from several lawmakers including Senate President Tito Sotto.

“If you are infringing on the rights of others, particularly the women, then you have no right to do it,” Sotto said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III revealed that a transgender person was plotting to replicate what happened to Gretchen Diez several days ago at Farmers Plaza in Cubao, Quezon City.

In an interview with the reporters, Sotto said that he heard a report of a transgender person standing by in one of the restrooms located at the Senate building and seems to wait for something to happen.

Sotto speculated that the said transgender was only waiting for someone to let him out of the restroom so she could make a scene like what happened to Diez.

“Meron daw transgender kanina diyan na iista-istambay lang dun, nakaupo lang daw dun, ewan ko parang nag-iintay na magkaroon ng issue na paalisin siya or something; eh meron namang bi-gender toilet dito sa 2nd floor kasama nun sa PWD na toilet dito,” Sotto said.

“Aba eh ano ginagawa mo dun? Di ba naghahanap ka lang ng gulo. But I already told the Sergeant-at-Arms to get rid of him,” he added.

According to Sotto, there’s also some incident that members of the LGBTQA+ community are trying to strike fear among straight people by telling them that they’re going to make a live video featuring them.

Sotto believes that they should not forget that straight person, especially women have the most right to use the female restroom

“Doon pa lang kita mo, wala pa ito (SOGIE bill), ina-abuso na. So that’s another problem,” he said.

“This is now an issue on women’s rights because I feel that a woman’s body is a temple and to her, the toilet is sacred. It’s where she has the weakest point,” he added.

He also had advice for the transgender people.

“Kung may sandata ka ng lalaki, doon ka pumunta sa comfort room na panglalaki. Kitang-kita ngayon pa lang eh,” he said.

The debate about SOGIE bill sparked after trans woman Gretchen Diez was stopped by a janitress to use the women restroom after they received a complaint from two females being uncomfortable with the former’s presence.

Journalist Erwin Tulfo criticized Gretchen Diez for saying that she’s open for running in public office after she became famous because of the inequality incident happened to her at Farmers Plaza Cubao, Quezon City several days ago.

In a social media post, Tulfo expressed his disappointment over Diez latest statement, saying that the trans woman should tell the public on his intention to enter politics earlier.

According to Tulfo, he would be very supportive to Diez if she didn’t discuss her possible entry in politics.

“AYUN NAMAN PALA!!! Sana sinabi mo kaagad ineng na GUSTO MO LANG TUMAKBO SA SUSUNOD NA HALALAN para hindi na nasibak si ateng na janitress…kawawa naman.” Tulfo said.

“I WOULD HAVE FOUGHT FOR YOU ALL THE WAY BECAUSE I ALWAYS BELIEVE THAT THE LGBTQ+ SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY AND FAIRLY. Sayang,” he added.

On Saturday, Diez told the press that she’s open to run for public office as a way for her not to waste the opportunity and popularity she received to become the voice of the LGBTQ+ in the government.

“I’m willing to maximize all of the power that’s in front of me para makapag-advocate ng change sa ating bansa. If it takes running for office, then I’m open for that. Siguro wala naman pong masama na ang isang transgender na katulad ko ay mabigyan ng pagkakataon na magkaroon ng boses lalo na po sa ating pamahalaan,” Diez said.

“Sabi na gusto pa nila akong tumakbo. Ako po ngayon ang gusto ko lang naman po ay mabigyan ng katarungan ang nangyari po sa akin kasi po 28 years po akong nabubuhay sa mundo, 28 years ko pong naranasan ang diskriminasyon,” she added.

The said statements of Diez received mixed reactions from the netizens and some critics cautioned her not to use her popularity to enter politics.

It seems that trans woman Gretchen Diez would not waste the popularity she received from the viral comfort room incident happened at Famers Plaza Cubao, Quezon City several days ago.

In an interview, Diez said that she’s open to run for public office to push the agendas of the LGBTQA+ community more effectively.

According to her, only a few members of the LGBTQA+ community could have the chance to have a voice in society, especially in the government.

“I’m willing to maximize all of the power that’s in front of me para makapag-advocate ng change sa ating bansa. If it takes running for office, then I’m open for that. Siguro wala naman pong masama na ang isang transgender na katulad ko ay mabigyan ng pagkakataon na magkaroon ng boses lalo na po sa ating pamahalaan,” Diez said.

Diez revealed that some people are pushing her to run for politics while she only wanted to seek justice on the inequality she experienced at Farmers Plaza after a janitress stopped her from using female restroom.

“Sabi na gusto pa nila akong tumakbo. Ako po ngayon ang gusto ko lang naman po ay mabigyan ng katarungan ang nangyari po sa akin kasi po 28 years po akong nabubuhay sa mundo, 28 years ko pong naranasan ang diskriminasyon,” Diez said.

“Noong mga panahon na ako’y bata pa at wala pa akong edukasyon at wala pa po akong kaalaman tungkol sa pagsulong ng mga karapatan ko. Now that I’m given the education, now I’m given this privelege to be the voice of the LGBTQ+ community or being the voice for equality,” she added.

WATCH: Gretchen Diez says she is open to running for public office to “maximize all the power” in advocating for equality and change for the LGBTQ+ community. | via @Ted_Cordero /GMA News Online pic.twitter.com/QdhyhrV7Up

— GMA News (@gmanews) August 24, 2019

The incident happened to Diez made the SOGIE bill being pushed by the LGBTQA+ community became one of the most discussed topics this month nationwide.

Several politicians, celebrities and other famous figures also showed their support to Diez and to the SOGIE bill.

However, politicians like Senate President Tito Sotto are still not convinced that the said bill should become a law.

He even accused Diez of deception because the trans woman didn’t tell the whole story to the public.

“May pila sa ladies’ room. Paglabas nung isang babae, nagreklamo sa dalawang janitress na may lalaki sa loob. Parang ganun ang sinasabi. Hindi naman nila pinansin kasi wala naman silang nakitang hitsurang lalaki,” the senator said.

“May isa pang sumunod, tinuro nagturo na sa linya daw hindi raw babae, nakabihis na babae. Nilapitan nung janitress, sinabi sa kanya na huwag na lang dito dahil may nagrereklamo. Itinuro siya dun sa PWD, or doon sa other nila, third toilet nila.” he added.

An OB-GYN specialist countered the claims of Lagalab LGBT network President Naomi Fontanos that the gender being included on birth certificates are only guesses that could be proven wrong in the future.

In a post, Dr. Ryan Borja Capitulo who introduced himself as a member of the LGBTQ+ community said that he’s a specialist when it comes to OB-GYN and also a specialist in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.

According to him, the gender of the baby should be based on anatomy and genetics. It contradicted the thoughts of Fontanos who said that the gender should not be based on the body of the newborn.

He also pointed out that as an expert, he’s not trying to guess the gender of the child.

“Batid ko ang KATOTOHANAN ng kasarian ng sanggol ayon sa “anatomy” at “genetics”! Naniniwala ako sa KATOTOHANAN ng kasarian base sa kaalamang SIYENTIPIKO at MEDIKAL,” Capitulo said.

“Kapag pumipirma ako sa Birth Certificate, sigurado akong TAMA at HINDI HULA ang nakalagay na kasarian!” he added.

Capitulo is a known critic of the SOGIE bill which being pushed by Fontanos and other members of the LGBTQA+ community.

During the Senate hearing on the SOGIE Bill, Fontanos said that her gender was only wrongly guessed during her birth because she was labeled on her birth certificate as a male, while in reality, she’s a transwoman.

“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 said.

She said that in some first world countries like Australia and New Zealand, they’re already following international standards on how they would prevent the baby’s gender being wrongly labeled on their documents like birth certificate.

Fontanos explained that the said countries are already allowing parents to put “x” or “double dash” which means that they’re not trying to assume the gender of their child.

The Sogie bill advocate also said that putting x or a double dash to the official documents of an individual will help other people communicating with them to ask first how should they be addressed.

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.

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