Hontiveros refiles SOGIE bill in 18th Congress

Senator Risa Hontiveros has refiled the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill as one of her priority measures in the 18th Congress.

Hontiveros said the time has come for the enactment of the SOGIE Bill and vowed that the incoming Congress will be a "massive victory against hate and discrimination."

"We will paint the Senate with rainbow colors. Our hard work in the previous Congress laid the groundwork for the measure to gain new champions and allies and the massive popularization of the bill inside and outside the halls of the legislature. It has a momentum that can't be ignored nor halted," she said.

The House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill in 2017.

The Senate's version, however, did not gain the final approval of the 17th Congress.

Aside from the SOGIE Bill, Hontiveros also filed the following pet bills: the Teenage Pregnancy bill, the Universal Social Pension bill for Senior Citizens, the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare bill, the Anti-child Marriage bill, the Strengthened Anti-Rape Law, the On-site, In-city, Near-city Resettlement Bill, the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Bill, and the Barangay Health Workers Bill. — Dona Magsino/RSJ, GMA News