The House Committee on Women and Gender Equality paid tribute to Filipina athletes — weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz, featherweight boxing silver medallist Nesthy Petacio and street skateboarder Margielyn Didal — who made their marks in the Tokyo Olympics.
The tribute was done prior to the committee’s approval of its main agenda, the substitute bill on “Gender Responsive and Inclusive Public Health Concern and Disaster Management Act,” Committee Chair and Bukidnon Representative Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba called on everyone to “express our gratitude and appreciation to the three Filipina athletes who showed not just their talents and skills in the world’s biggest sporting stage, but also the character (traits) of Filipino women — determined, resilient, with unrelenting fighting spirit, and with limitless potential.”
“Petecio and Didal are lesbian women athletes, who are proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Acosta-Alba also said Petecio and Didal are lesbian women athletes, who are proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
“These three women brought us together in these difficult times and have provided hope and inspiration to the whole nation.”
“These three women brought us together in these difficult times and have provided hope and inspiration to the whole nation. Thank you Hidilyn, Nesthy and Margielyn. You have definitely made us proud,” the legislator said.
Meanwhile, in the discussion that followed, the committee approved the amended substitute bill to the “Gender Responsive and Inclusive Public Health Concern and Disaster Management Act.”
It substituted HBs 9059 authored by Acosta-Alba and HB 9465 by Camarines Sur LRay Villafuerte Jr.
The bill seeks to ensure gender responsive and inclusive protocols and programming to address the gender-differentiated needs of women during public health emergencies, public health threats, disasters, as well as other health events of public concern.
The bill would ensure that there is adequate statutory power for government agencies to act, pursuant to their respective mandates, upon a declaration of an emergency by the President by reason of a pandemic and guided by the policies issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and principles enunciated herein.
One of these principles is to effectively prevent, respond and eliminate the incidence of gender-based violence against women and girls through the integration of gender and intersectional analysis in pandemic policy and decision making, planning and programming in all the stages of pandemic management.
