They bomb LGBTQIA Filipinos now.
The bombing that happened in Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Saturday (September 18) may have been motivated by hate against LGBTQIA people there.
This is according to Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, spokesperson of a local military unit, who added that they found out that members of the local LGBTQIA community received death threats from the BIFF-Karialan faction prior to the bombing.
“(S)ila ay binabantaan na sasaktan ng nasabing grupo kung hindi nila ide-denounce yung kanilang affiliation sa (LGBTQIA community),” Baldomar said.
One person died and seven other people were injured by the bombing that happened at a covered court in the plaza of Datu Piang, where a volleyball tournament was being held. All of them are LGBTQIA community members.
Baldomar assured that they continue to hunt BIFF members; though there are no LGBTQIA-specific efforts put in place to provide protection to local LGBTQIA people whose lives may now be in danger.
There is no law against hate crimes in the Philippines; just as there is still no national law protecting the human rights of LGBTQIA Filipinos.
This anti-LGBTQIA occurrence in Maguindanao is not an isolated case.
In June, LGBTQIA people in Ampatuan – which is also in Maguindanao – were shaved in public, and then were shamed online, supposedly for living contrary to Islam.
