The UP Law – Gender Law and Policy Program, a law-based program on women and gender policy and advocacy and extension services, expressed its support to the initiative to simplify the process of changing names and gender markers for intersex Filipinos.
Particularly, UP GLPP stressed its support to Senate Bill No. 1731, “An Act Authorizing The City Or Municipal Civil Registrar And The Consul General To Change The Sex And The First Name Of An Intersex Person Appearing In The Civil Register Without The Need Of A Judicial Order, Amending For This Purpose Republic Act No. 9048 And Republic Act No. 10172”, also known as the Cagandahan Bill.
“Across the years, our fellow intersex members of the community have been forced to navigate costly, inaccessible, and invasive judicial processes to correct their civil records. However, this bill allows for a simplified process in correcting intersex persons’ first names and sex in the civil registry records,” UP GLPP stated.
The bill was named after Jeff B. Cagandahan, the intersex Filipino whose case was ruled on by the Supreme Court of the Philippines. In Republic v. Cagandahan, the SC upheld Cagandahan’s change in name and gender markers as an adult intersex individual due to being assigned female at birth yet developing male characteristics as he grew into adulthood.
The Cagandahan Bill aims to provide accessible administrative pathways for intersex individuals to change their first name and gender marker in the civil register, allowing the same recognition to other intersex individuals who may have developed different sex characteristics from the sex they were assigned at birth.
“We have long advocated for the passage of the Cagandahan Bill and the broader fight for equality,” UP GLPP stated, adding that the filing of the bill is a “milestone”, and is relevant “as part of our continuing commitment to building a society grounded in dignity, autonomy, and equal protection… Passing the Cagandahan Bill is not just a legal reform, but a commitment to equality and respect.”
There are various forms of the Cagandahan Bill, all of them pending in both the House of Representatives and Senate.
