LESBIAN, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) Davao City Coalition adviser Norman Baloro refuted claims that the Google form where members of LGBT community can fill out their information is already closed.

This, after several members of the community in the city aired their complaints and unhappiness after they were not able to open the Google Form for registration, as it was already closed.

“Ipaklaro lang nato nga wala siya gisirhan, open siya for non-members, kay naa naman ta’y list sa atong mga members nga naay organization. Ang Google Form is for the LGBT Davao City Coalition na accredited organizations. In Davao, we have 92 accredited LGBT organizations. Para ma-accommodate sab nato ang non-members, kaya we opened sa Google Form, (We would like to clarify that we did not close it. It is still open for non-members since we already have a list of the members (of the community) who are under an organization. The Google form is for the LGBT Davao City Coalition with accredited organizations. In Davao, we have 92 accredited LGBT organizations. In order to also accommodate the non-members, we opened again the Google Form for registration),” Baloro said.

He added that for those who are Davao City residents but not members of any LGBT organization, they can send their message to the official Facebook page of the LGBT Davao City Coalition so that they can be assisted in registering the Google Form by providing them the link.

“Atoa silang i-verify kung taga Davao ba gyod. Ug ipahibalo lang pod nato nga dili ta tanan mahatagan sa pahalipay, we have 6,000 slots lang, but gidugangan nato og 1,000 para ma-7,000 para ang walay mga organization atong ma-accommodate (We will verify whether they are really from Davao City and we would also like to inform that not all will be given gifts as we only have 6,000 slots, but we have already added 1,000 totaling to 7,000, so that those who are not members of any LGBT organization will be accommodated.) Nevertheless, we will find ways to accommodate everyone,” Baloro said.

Members of LGBT community in Davao City look forward to every December of each year since Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio gives them gift certificates.

The practice of the City Government giving gift certificates to the LGBT community members has been around for almost a decade already.