House bill filed allowing civil partnership of same-sex couples   

A PARTY-LIST LAWMAKER has refiled a bill that seeks to recognize civil partnership of same-sex couples.  

Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy has refiled House Bill 1015 or the Civil Partnership Act, calling it a “landmark effort to provide civil rights, benefits and responsibilities to couples previously unable to marry, giving them due recognition and protection from the state.” 

The bill had been filed in both the 17th and 18th Congress but failed to pass into law. The lawmaker, however, remains hopeful this time, noting that there has been greater acceptance of minority groups in recent years.  

“It is about time that the Philippine government grant couples — whether they are of the opposite or of the same sex — adequate legal instruments to recognize their partnerships, respecting their dignity and recognizing equality before the law,” Ms. Herrera-Dy said in the bill.  

She noted that the bill will allow members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community to declare their partners as beneficiaries under social security and insurance plans, as well as inherit through intestate rights upon the death of their partner, among other benefits.  

Under the proposed measure, the civil partners will be given all the benefits and protections granted to married couples under existing laws, rulings and orders. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan