MANILA — Bible verses were abundant during a House of Representatives panel’s hearing on the Anti-Discrimination bill as several resource persons cited the religious book and other Christian teachings to counter the proposal.
During the House Committee on human rights hearing on Tuesday morning, Bishop Leo Alconga of the Philippines for Jesus Movement questioned why the Anti-Discriminatory Bill is needed when the Bill of Rights is already in place in the 1987 Constitution — and included in the Bible.
“We, on behalf of the Philippines for Jesus Movement, we studied this issue and based on the general concept of human rights protection — which is under the coverage of the Holy Scripture and also under the statement of God himself — we question why there is a need for such a law?” Alconga said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“We are concerned that this may be redundant, a mere duplication of what I mentioned,” he added, turning to committee chairperson and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.
Prior to this, Alconga also mentioned several Bible verses and Constitutional provisions to prove that policymaking should put God at the center, noting that humans are created in the image of God — man and woman, in an apparent swipe at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) community.
The LGBTQIA community is pushing for the anti-discrimination bill’s enactment.
“The introduction of our Philippine Constitution is beautiful; by virtue of the expression of our preamble, it states what is the true meaning of our constitution: none other than having at the center the importance of accepting the one true God who created heaven and earth, the God who has a glorious divine agenda with our people and our country,” Alconga claimed.
“I hope you understand where we are coming from: according to Genesis 1:27, God created man in his own image; he created him, male and female. He created them. If you can just observe this, you can see the value of life here, the plan of God, what kind of humans are in front of God, and what we are talking about this morning,” he added.
The House panel is currently deliberating four similar anti-discrimination bills — House Bills No. 188 authored by Abante; No. 224 from Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman; No. 1480 from Laguna 1st District Rep. Ma. Rene Ann Lourdes Matibag; and No. 2128 from Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez.
No decision has been made on the fate of the four bills that would be consolidated, with Abante saying that more hearings are needed — which may resume around early 2023.
Aside from Alconga, other members of the religious community were present, including Abante’s brother Reuben Abante, who heads the Bible Believers League.
However, unlike Alconga, Reuben supported the call for an anti-discrimination bill, saying though that the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill and his brother’s anti-discrimination proposal for heterosexuals would not be needed anymore.
Jesus is Lord Church founder and Cibac party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva and Abante — both preachers — also gave their inputs, prompting no less than Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman to quip that he just heard a huge amount of homilies.
Lagman, the last speaker during the hearing, is a staunch supporter of liberal-oriented bills like the divorce bill.
The lawmaker from Albay also countered Alconga, saying that while the Philippine for Jesus Movement is correct that there are already provisions about anti-discrimination in the 1987 Constitution, these are not self-implementing and would thus need a law for the government to implement it.
“Mr. Chairman, I just a surfeit of homilies and advocacies but they did not distract me from my full support for the enactment of a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill. I hope that we can have this enacted as soon as possible,” Lagman said.
“I fully agree that the Constitution is replete with provisions on human rights and anti-discrimination, with the caveat that these principles and doctrines are mostly not self-implementing. Consequently, there is a need for implementing legislation like a consolidated bill on anti-discrimination and other similar bills,” he added. (Gabriel Pabico Lalu © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
