In the 3rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Cycle, the Philippines received 11 recommendations for the advancement of LGBTQIA+ Rights, yet only 2 (18%) of those recommendations were accepted. In the 4th UPR Cycle, it only noted the same number of recommendations benefitting LGBTQIA+ rights.
Despite President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s statement in 2023 that the LGBTIA+ community should be free from discrimination, the SOGIESC Bill, with its measures that seek to penalize discrimination and protect the community, remains to be the longest-pending legislation in Philippine history according to Reyna Valmores Salinas, LGBTQIA+ rights group Bahaghari Chairperson. Executive Order 51 was even issued to reconstitute the Inter-Agency Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. It also created a Special Committee on Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Affairs. But violations of LGBTQIA+ rights continue, and they are also red-tagged and vilified. Worse, even killed.
LGBTQIA+ along with women also suffer multiple forms of discrimination including discrimination against their political belief or inclination. The government’s vilification of activists and human rights defenders (HRDs) adds another barrier to the exercise and enjoyment of their human rights.
The Fuller Project documents fifty transgender related killings from 2010 to 2021, but the real death toll is likely higher. In 2023, the Philippines ranked 8th worldwide in the number of transgender people murdered, an alarming ranking that has highlighted the violence against the community, especially with the recent attacks on transgender women. On June 23, 2025, trans gender woman human rights advocate and media professional, Ali Macalintal was reported gunned down in General Santos City, South Cotabato. Bahaghari and Karapatan says Macalintal was a vocal human rights defender. Macalintal courageously participated in fact-finding missions in Mindanao even at the height of martial law. She was wrongfully imprisoned in 2002 for the bombing of Fitmart Mall in General Santos City but was acquitted eight years later as the evidence was determined to be planted by the police when their house was raided illegally.
On the same day of Macalintal’s murder, transgender woman and student Kierra Apostol was found lifeless in Cagayan River, after being reported missing for a few days. Earlier in February this year, transwoman Shalani Dolina was also found dead in her house in Caloocan City.
The recent killings, the continuous discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ and the harassment of LGBTQIA+ activists underscore the urgency of the passage of a SOGIESC Equiality Law and Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Law – another urgent legislation also pending in Congress for decades now. While the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality Bill seeks to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in workplaces, schools, and public spaces; the CADB seeks to broaden protections against discrimination based on all prohibited attributes, i.e., age, indigenous, cultural, racial, or ethnic origin, religious belief or activity, political inclination or conviction, social class, sex, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, gender identity, gender expression, marital relationship status, disability, HIV status, profession, occupation, employment status, educational attainment, maternity and pregnancy, deprivation of liberty, former incarceration, health status or medical history, language, physical features, or other status.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) has been lobbying UN Member states to legislate a comprehensive anti-discrimination law.
We, the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) reiterates our support for the immediate legislation of the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination and SOGIESC equality bills that will ensure a safe and inclusive society for all.
We urge the government to decisively comply with its commitments to uphold the Filipino people’s human rights, leaving nobody behind. We PROTEST WITH PRIDE as we unite to reclaim our civic spaces and stand to assert our people’s rights and dignity.
See also CHR support for SOGIESC Equality Bill and Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Bill at:
CHR urges Congress to prioritize SOGIESC, anti-discrimination bills | Diskurso PH