The Commission on Human Rights respects the recent Supreme Court decision in Falcis v. Civil Registrar General on marriage equality.

The Supreme Court ruled that the said petition be dismissed due to ‘lack of standing, violating the principle of hierarchy of courts, and failing to raise an actual, justiciable controversy.’

Despite the decision, we find hope that the Court recognised the long history of the struggles of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQI) for equality, including freedom from being discriminated for their choice of relationship.

One with the cause, we encourage the LGBTQI community and its allies to press on in spite of this hurdle and continuously find ways to claim the right to be treated justly as humans whose rights are equal with everyone else.

We also call on the government, particularly Congress, to review current laws and policies that apply to this matter and ensure that provisions be free of language that may discriminate and perpetuate violences against specific groups, more so if they are already vulnerable and marginalised under current contexts.