Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy filed House Bill 1015, or the Civil Partnership Act, which seeks to recognize civil partnership of same-sex couples.
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 was actually filed in the 17th and 18th Congress, though in both instances, it failed to pass into law.
Still, according to Herrera-Dy, “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.”
If passed, this will allow members of the LGBTQIA community will be given all the benefits and protections granted to married couples under existing laws, rulings and orders. This includes declaring 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.
