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Duterte wants an LGBT rep to join urban poor commission
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (Photo by KING RODRIGUEZ via PCOO)
The President is looking for the ‘brightest’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community representative to join his new Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).
“I would like to appoint somebody upon the nomination. You nominate the representative from the LGBT sector kasi (because) I fired the entire commission of the urban poor, the head for travelling so much in such a short a time as if he was using the money for the people like his own,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech on Sunday, in the 7th LGBT gathering in Davao.
He added that he would like to have a gay or a lesbian in the PCUP that he will reform.
Giving the second of January as their deadline, Duterte listed the qualifications of the representative they have to nominate.
“Mag-usap kayong lahat all over the Philippines, nominate somebody who is honest, hardworking and I would like to show that any… bakla man o tomboy (gay or lesbian) can always work just like an ordinary human being,” the President stated.
“Just give me an honest… and bright [ang] gusto ko na representative para ma-highlight ang trabaho ng isang bakla o tomboy (I want a representative who is bright to highlight the work of a gay or lesbian),” he reiterated.
The President also vowed that during his term, the LGBT community will be “protected and nurtured as a human being.
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“There will be no oppression and we will recognize your importance in society,” Duterte said.
He also addressed a hot topic for the rainbow community, which is same-sex marriage. Duterte said that the only problem he sees is ‘changing the law,’ but given that that is possible, he sees nothing wrong with it especially that it is the ‘trend of the modern times’ that adds to the ‘happiness’ of the people.
“You know, kung ano ‘yung kaligahayahan ng tao, bakit mo pigilan (why do you have to block something that makes the people happy)? Why impose a morality that is no longer working?
So I am with you,” he said.
