GABRIELA Youth Davao is calling on the local government to immediately finalize the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the city’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance, which has remained unenforced for more than a decade after it was enacted.
The group's chairperson, Allyssa Ancheta, said the organization began hanging LGBTQIA+ pride flags along major streets in the city as a visible reminder of the community’s long-standing struggle against injustice and violence.
She said that the absence of clear implementing guidelines renders the ordinance “toothless,” and allows discrimination and violence to persist unchecked.
"The long-overdue SOGIESC Equality Bill must be passed now,” she said.
Ancheta said that since 2024, at least 50 transgender individuals have been killed in the Philippines, making the country the eighth highest in the world for trans-related murders.
Among the most recent cases was Ali Jejhon "Toti" Macalintal, a trans woman and former deputy secretary general of Karapatan Soccsksargen, who was shot dead by an unidentified gunman. On the same day, Kierra Apostol, a trans woman and incoming college freshman, was found dead in a river, two days after she was reported missing.
Ancheta said that the deaths of Macalintal and Apostol represent only a fraction of the violence faced by the LGBTQIA+ community in the country, even as Pride Month is celebrated every June.
She said Gabriela Youth Davao continues to push for the immediate passage of the SOGIESC Equality Bill, which seeks to safeguard LGBTQIA+ rights and protect the community from discrimination and violence.
The group also called on President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to turn words into action by genuinely upholding his administration’s commitment to inclusion and acceptance.
To recall, Davao City’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance (EO No. 0417-2012) was enacted in 2012 and amended in 2018. The ordinance prohibits discrimination based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, descent, national or ethnic origin, and religious beliefs. However, without its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), advocates say the ordinance remains largely symbolic and unenforceable. RGP