Ang Ladlad marks first year as accredited party-list group

source: gma

Rights group Ang Ladlad may have failed to secure a party-list seat in last year's elections, but the loss did not stop its members from going to the Supreme Court to mark the first year after the high tribunal allowed members of the group to participate in the May 2010 polls.



On Friday, Ang Ladlad members – mainly lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders (LGBT) – gave the magistrates thank-you cards for recognizing their right to run as a party-list group.

"Noong April 8, 2010, nakamit namin ang recgonition upang kilalanin bilang isang sektor. Ipinagdiriwang namin ang desisyon ng Supreme Court na kami ay kilalanin at patakbuhin sa halalan," said Ang Ladlad chair Bemz Benedito.

Exactly a year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ang Ladlad and against the Commission on Elections, which said that the group cannot be accredited as a party-list group.

The high court said Ang Ladlad complied with the legal requirements for accreditation as a party-list group listed in Republic Act 7941, or the Party-list System Act.

“We are not blind to the fact that, through the years, homosexual conduct, and perhaps homosexuals themselves, have borne the brunt of societal disapproval. It is not difficult to imagine the reasons behind this censure – religious beliefs, convictions about the preservation of marriage, family, and procreation, even dislike or distrust of homosexuals themselves and their perceived lifestyle. Nonetheless, we recall that the Philippines has not seen fit to criminalize homosexual conduct," the Court said in its ruling.

Plagiarism mess

The ruling on Ang Ladlad's case is also controversial because its ponente (writer), Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, allegedly plagiarized portions of it.

Del Castillo was already accused of committing plagiarism in his April 28, 2010 ruling that denied World War II sex slavery victims' pleas to have the Philippine government seek reparation from Japan on their behalf.

The Supreme Court cleared Del Castillo twice of plagiarism accusations, saying he had no malicious intent to pass off other authors' works as his own.

On Friday, Ang Ladlad trustee Angie Umbac, a lawyer, said that the allegedly plagiarized portions in the April 8 ruling had no bearing on the merits of the Ang Ladlad case.

"We checked the portions that were supposedly plagiarized and we found out that these have no bearing on the case. So we're okay with that," Umbac said.

source: gma