Senatorial candidate Raffy Alunan says he respects same-sex partnerships

Senatorial candidate Rafael Alunan III has stated that he respects same-sex partnerships.

In an earlier gathering of senatorial candidates by ABS-CBN News, Alunan said that while he – as a Roman Catholic – was taught that marriage is a “sacrament between a man and a woman”, his personal belief is to respect the love between people irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE).

“I am a Catholic, and I was brought up a Catholic. And marriage as we were taught is a sacrament between a man and a woman. But that’s doctrine. Raffy Alunan as a person, however, believes that he respects same-sex partnerships because we have free will and the love between two people whether they’re the same sex or opposite sex is something really between the two of them and that must be respected,” Alunan said.

In another interview by Bilang Pilipino 2016, Alunan said that “if the question is if you are in favor with enacting a law that will allow same genders to get married, have a civil ceremony, and then have the same legal rights as couples married in church, sharing the bounties of marriage and sharing the costs and benefits of it, then sure I’m in favor of doing that.”

Alunan was in the Cabinet of the late President Corazon C. Aquino, serving as the Secretary of the Department of Tourism; chairman of the Philippine Tourism Authority; director of the Manila International Airport Authority; and spokesman of the Philippine panel in the RP-US bases talks. Under former President Fidel V. Ramos, he served as the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government; chairman of the National Police Commission, National Peace and Order Council, and Local Government Academy; member of the National Security Council; and commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission.