REPRESENTATIVE Celso Lobregat (1st District, Zamboanga City) joined the 22 other members in the House of Representatives in filing a bill which seeks the establishment of Women’s and Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Protection Desks in police stations across the country.
Lobregat spearheaded his colleagues in filing House Bill 5082 entitled: “An act establishing LGBT Protection Desks in all Philippine National Police (PNP) stations nationwide, amending for the purpose Title VII of Republic Act 8551, as amended, otherwise known as the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998.”
Lobregat said HB 5082 is very important especially in the present trend of times, wherein the crimes against person is increasing in urban and even rural communities affecting the LGBT community.
It is high time to amend the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998 in order to cater into the protection of other genders in society, according to Lobregat.
He noted that Section 57 in Title VII of Republic Act 8551 which states that the PNP shall establish the women’s desks in all police stations all over the country to administer and attend the cases involving crimes against chastity, sexual harassment, abuses committed against women and children and other similar offenses.
It is further provided that municipalities and cities presently without policewomen will have two years upon the effectivity of this act within which to comply with the recruitment of this provision.
The HB 5082 filed by Lobregat and his colleagues has already been reviewed by the Committee on Public Order and Safety who also recommended its approval.
Lobregat said it is presently being reviewed by the Committee on Rules in the House of Representatives. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)