Institutionalizing pro-intersex mandates.
A bill was filed in the House of Representatives to simplify the process of changing the entries in the legal documents of intersex Filipinos without the need for a judicial order.
As it currently stands, intersex Filipinos are actually already allowed to change their names and gender markers in legal documents, thanks to a 2008 Supreme Court ruling (Republic vs. Cagandahan).
This time, lawmakers from party-list Akbayan are seek to translate the landmark SC ruling into law, thereby simplifying the process of changing names and gender markers in legal documents of intersex Filipinos.
Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendana, who filed House Bill 5474 or the “Cagandahan Bill”, noted the difficulties faced by intersex Filipinos to access a process that is supposed to be available to help them.
“Sa kasalukuyang batas, kailangan pang sumuot sa butas ng karayom ng intersex Filipinos para mapalitan ang pangalan at kasarian nila sa legal documents. Bakit pa ito idadaan sa korte kung pwede namang sa munisipyo na lang?” he said.
“Deserve ng mga intersex Filipinos na kilalanin sa mata ng batas. They should have the right to live in alignment with their identities without the tedious and expensive process of hiring a lawyer, proving themselves before a court, and waiting indefinitely for a ruling.”
Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendana
HB 5474 particularly seeks to amend RA 9048 (as previously amended by RA 10172) to include the sex characteristics of intersex persons as a ground for change in first name, nickname, or sex. This may be petitioned through the city or municipal civil registrar and the consul general, instead of local and higher courts.
Other authors of the bill are Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno, and Akbayan Rep. Dadah Kiram-Ismula.
