MANILA – Do gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals need representation in the Philippine Congress?
No, said a ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as the agency stood firm in its decision to junk the petition of the gay-rights group “Ang Ladlad” (meaning, to “bare” in Filipino) for accreditation as a party-list group to enable it to field candidates in the May 2010 elections.
Comelec Commissioner Nicodemus Ferrer defended the decision, saying that gays and lesbians could not be considered as marginalized sectors in society because they are already “overly represented” in Congress.
Ferrer said: “I have been telling them, you are not under-represented…actually, you are overly represented in the House of Representatives and the Senate…in the military…in the religious.”
He did not elaborate nor did he try to identify who these lawmakers are in Congress.
He added that by getting elected, gay officials and lesbians have already proven that members of the “third sex” can be part of the mainstream community and, therefore, should not be considered as marginalized.
In defending the ruling, Ferrer also warned that by seeking Comelec accreditation, leaders of Ang Ladlad are actually pushing their members away from the mainstream.
“By their petition, they are seeking to separate themselves from the mainstream,” Ferrer argued. “They are also Filipinos and they are also human, so why look for a vehicle to separate themselves from the mainstream. What is their purpose?”
It was Ferrer who penned the controversial Comelec ruling which rejected the Ang Ladlad petition, resulting in an escalating “word war” that was joined by lawmakers and human rights advocates.
In the ruling, the Comelec said allowing Ang Ladlad’s participation in the elections would expose the youth to immorality. It also quoted extensively from the Bible and the Koran to justify the ruling.
But Ang Ladlad leaders as well as lawmakers and officials of the Commission on Human Rights denounced the decision as “medieval” and said they would elevate the controversial issue to the Supreme Court.
Ferrer welcomed their announcement as he said: “To be moral is not old-fashioned and to be modern does not mean that you are no longer moral.”
In the House, meanwhile, Speaker Prospero Nograles Junior admitted that he found Ferrer’s statement as “funny” and “queer” because he has a hard time figuring out who is what and what is who in the chamber.
For her part, Leila de Lima, the outspoken chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, lambasted Ferrer for his comments which she described as “doubly appalling.
De Lima explained that the Comelec decision was already appalling and was made doubly appalling by Ferrer’s comments.
De Lima insisted that, despite Ferrer’s comments, gays, lesbians and transsexuals are marginalized because they are common objects of discrimination in Philippine society.
The 1986 Constitution allows for the election of party-list groups to the House to represent the marginalized and under-represented sectors in society, such as farmers, retired soldiers and policemen, war veterans, militants, teachers and even sidewalk vendors.
As envisioned, this would allow these sectors to have a voice in Congress, especially in the approval of laws that aim to protect and promote their interests.
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