a group of Filipino homosexuals (lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender or LGBT) applied for accreditation from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as a marginalized group wanting to take part in the electoral process. COMELEC turned down the group’s petition on moral grounds.
“As an agency of the government, ours too is the State’s duty. Under the Constitution to protect our youth from moral and spiritual degradation,” the COMELEC said. It went further: “Should this Commission grant the petition, we will be exposing our youth to an environment that does not conform to our faith.”
Based on its own definition of sexual orientation as “a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender, of the same gender, or more than one gender,” COMELED opined that “this definition of the LGBT sector makes it crystal clear that petitioner tolerates immorality which offends religious beliefs.”
When Senator Joker Arroyo and Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairman Leila De Lima scored COMELEC for its ruling, COMELEC Commissioner Rene Sarmiento averred that homosexuals are not a marginalized group because they are already well represented in the Philippine Congress - meaning maraming bakla sa Kongreso. Speaker Prospero Nograles retorted in gist that he can’t tell “who’s who and who is what” by just looking. And since nobody would admit that they are homosexuals ergo then they are not. Unwittingly, the Speaker made the case for Ang Ladlad group as to why they should be accredited. Precisely is the reason why LGBT is a marginalized group because of people like Sarmiento and government agencies like the COMELEC who injects religion into their legal duties. Such perceptions prevent LGBT people from coming out afraid of being ostracized or losing their jobs or business because of who they are. This ruling is plain and simple discrimination against a group based on their sexual orientation. There is no religious test enshrined in the Philippine constitution for a group to be accredited as a party-list. Besides, it is unlawful to discriminate a group based on their sexual orientation.
When the group applied for accreditation in 2007, it was turned down by the poll body for “not having enough representation all over the country to qualify as a marginalized sector of society.” Consequently, the group opened up it membership and went nationwide.
According to its purple website, the LGBT group is a political party with a national following - meaning maraming LGBT sa buong Pilipinas! Founded and chaired by Danton Remoto, Ang Ladlad has been in existence since 21 September 2003. Remoto who has a rather impressive resume himself ran for senator in 2007 but was declared a nuisance candidate by the COMELEC. He opted then to run as representative of the third district of Quezon City, going up against and losing to Matias Defensor.
The organization’s thrust is toward human rights, and the organization is fighting for equal rights among all Filipinos, whether they are LGBT or not. According to the group, they would like to champion the Anti-Discrimination Bill that gives LGBT Filipinos equal opportunities in employment and equal treatment in schools, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, entertainment centers, and government offices. They are also for the re-filing of the bill to repeal the Anti-Vagrancy Law that some unscrupulous policemen use to extortbribes from gay men without ID cards. Ladlad also want to set up of micro-finance and livelihood projects for poor and handicapped LGBT Filipinos and to set up of centers for Golden Gays, or old and abandoned LGBTs, as well as young ones driven out of their homes. They envision these centers to offer legal aid and counseling, as well as information about LGBTissues, HIV-AIDS, and reproductive health.
Clearly, the group is marginalized and has a national vision and following. Therefore, there is really no solid legal ground for the COMELEC’s denial of their constitutional right to be represented in congress. While some may disagree with them and even believe that homosexuality is a sin, being bakla is not illegal. If the COMELEC would like to use their position as a bully pulpit for their morality then it should not look very far because they themselves have prostituted the electoral process by allowing the likes of Garci to impose an illegitimate president on the country, or waste the people’s money on the billion peso Mega-Pacific computerization deal that was declared void the Philippine Supreme Court. If the poll body can accredit General Palparan’s group - Bantay - whose main focus in life is to counter the new People’s Army in the Philippines, all the more Ladlad must be accorded the same privilege to participate in the electoral process. After all, it is still the people’s voice that will determine ultimately if they will serve in the “honorable body.”
