The legislation of the same-sex marriage in the Philippines is ongoing. Atty. Jesus Nicardo Falcis III filed this legislative with the High Court in 2015 and said that if the Supreme Court would vote in favor for same-sex marriage, the Philippines would have equal marriage laws and will join Taiwan as the forefront of Asian countries.
The Philippines is ranked as 10th of the most gay-friendly nations in Asia in a 2013 global survey covering 39 countries, of which 17 had majorities accepting homosexuality.
Same-sex Marriage in the Philippines
According to a survey conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Center, 73 percent of adult Filipinos agreed with the statement that “homosexuality should be accepted in society.” The survey results went up by nine percentage points from 64 percent in the year 2002.
On the contrary, a 2015 online poll was conducted by INQUIRER.net and showed that out of 22,085 respondents, 9,100 votes corresponded to the answer “I don’t care” on whether the Philippines should legalize same-sex marriage, while 4,327 responded “no.”
Concurrently, a New York-based Human Rights Watch or HRW hopes the Supreme Court of the Philippines will approve and legalize same-sex marriage in the country.
The same-sex marriage petition wishes to enable the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or LGBT community to be granted benefits and protection in marriage, including the ability to jointly adopt, inherit property, obtain tax benefits, and share insurance, health, and pension benefits.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed that he has nothing against the rising population of homosexuality but believes that marriage is only for a man and a woman under the law. He also added that it is against Filipino culture, morals, and tradition. Although there is a separation of the church and the state, he considers morals derived from the Bible in legislating laws. He also added that same-sex marriage would violate the religious freedom and long-held morals of the majority.
The country still awaits for the decision regarding the legalization of same-sex union.
Today, the LGBT community still receives no formal legal recognition, although some anti-discrimination ordinances have been implemented in different cities, there is no nationwide protection against discrimination in the workplace, and employment and housing for the community. While in the social, entertainment and political sphere, homophobia still exists thus, this might mean that the surveys and studies conducted might just be a minority.
A lot of factors still affect the legislation of same-sex marriage in the Philippines, this includes that the country is predominantly rooted in Catholicism.