Liberty / Freedom

It was recently brought to my attention that in the coming 2010 elections, the party list Ang Ladlad was again declined the chance to run for public office for the second time. The first time that Comelec declined the party list movement was because, they allegedly failed to show proof that they represent “a clear sector." , back in the 2007 elections. Now that they are "clearly representing a sector" the very righteous Commission on elections disqualified the said party list for another reason.

The second reason of Comelec was understandable. I understand that the commission on Elections is clearly discriminating. Back in 2007 it was just unfair, now its clearly an oppression. They are now using morality to dismiss any petition from the group. Their eight-page resolution seems to include points raised by its Law Department saying that Ang Ladlad “apparently advocates" sexual immorality which they think violates Article 694 of the Civil Code which defines nuisance as “any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property, or anything else which shocks, defies, or disregards decency or morality." and also Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code saying that those who shall “publicly expound or proclaim doctrines openly contrary to public morals" must be punished.

Two years ago they only wanted the legitimate party to not participate in the elections. This year its different, they want to have a punishment. I prefer to think that they are not just talking about Ang Ladlad but the whole community that they are representing.

This clearly is a way of Comelec to say to the Filipino public that: You can run for public office even though we know that you are stealing from the government, even if you have a lot of extra judicial killings you are welcome to serve the public not to mention if you are supporting illegal activities. For the comelec these are not grounds for disqualification, because they considered it as a "moral act" well is it not openly contrary to public morals to steal from the money of the people?

Further more their resolution continued with this: should the commission grant the petition, they will be “exposing" the youth to an environment that “does not conform to the teachings of our faith."

Faith? Really now? You are talking about faith now???? You are worried about how our youth will be able grow up in such environment? So what environment do you want your children to grow up in?

We have a lot of problems in this country. Ang Ladlad is simply saying that as members of the LGBT we can help to improve the quality of life in the Philippines starting with our very own "freedom" isn't that why we have our elections? Because of our liberty that we can vote. Ang Ladlad wants to help the community they are representing to be able to get out of the cage and have freedom. Ladlad is not running for congress to recruit members they are running for public office so they they can help the LGBT sector which ,as of this writing ,has nowhere to go when they are being oppressed. A sector of the which is in need of immediate representation in our national government. Ang Ladlad is not about spreading sexual immorality (We already have a lot of that even without the LGBT community). It is about giving hope to democracy, its about giving a lesson of faith to our future generations that they should not be afraid to come forward. They should not fear that they will be abused in the future, that they will not be discriminated in public and nobody will be there for them. These are just some of the things that Comelec blatantly ignored when they declined the petition. They just see the difference, they do not see that the party is running towards a common goal, "LIBERTY, FREEDOM". Unless they have a different goal from us.

LGBT community was already here and have a large number of supporters even before we knew it. Let's not ignore that fact.