In the City of San Juan in Metro Manila, an ordinance – City Ordinance No. 16, Series of 2025 – has been passed to require the recognition of health care proxies by all health facilities within the city.
The ordinance, known as the “Recognition of Health Proxies Ordinance of the City of San Juan”, particularly benefits members of the LGTQIA+ community. Sans a law on marriage equality in the Philippines, LGBTQIA+ couples are not legally recognized in the country; those in LGBTQIA+ relationships are, therefore, not legally allowed to make decisions for their partners, including when deciding on medical issues.
But this ordinance claims to recognize “the efforts to ensure equalities and equity among all gender.”
As such, “all health care providers within the territorial jurisdiction of the locality shall recognize and respect the use of the Health Care Proxy issued by the Gender and Development Office of the City of San Juan, granting LGBTQIA+ couples and other eligible individuals the right to make medical decisions for their partners if needed.”
The ordinance was sponsored by councilors Rolando Bernardo, Don Allado, Paul Anthony Artadi, Bea de Guzman-Cabatbat, Raissa Laurel-Subijano, Ryan Llanos Dee, Ismael Mathay IV, Kit Peralta, Lorenzo Tañada-Yam, Jose Ruben Tolentino, John Ervic Vijande, James Carlos Yap, Herbert Chua, and Francine Alexandria Gil.
