As a push for a norm-changing effort in the city, members of the proposed Equality and Diversity Ordinance’s Technical Working Group (TWG), representatives from sectoral groups, non-government and government agencies, gathered on February 6, 2020, Thursday at the Cagayan de Oro City Council Session Hall for its first public hearing.
Hon. Joyleen Mercedes Balaba led the public hearing, urging concerned groups and individuals to help improve the draft of the proposed ordinance. The Technical Working Group assigned in crafting the proposed ordinance is led by the City Legal Council chaired by Atty. Ernesto Neri Jr. and co-chaired by Atty. Sam Tan. The Oro Youth Development Council, the project lead for this undertaking, serves as the secretariat.
The diversity and equality ordinance
‘An ordinance promoting diversity and equality thru affirmative action and prohibiting discrimination, ridicule, vilification, and harassment of persons in the city of Cagayan de Oro on the basis of their age, racial or ethnic origin, religious belief or activity, political inclination or conviction, social class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital or relationship status, disability, health status or medical history, language, physical features, and other status, providing penalties, therefore, and for other purpose’.
All these boils down to giving and gaining respect regardless of personal beliefs, differences and background. The public hearing highlighted the proposed ordinance’s role as a platform for equality between and among individuals, in front of God and the law. Furthermore, the proposed ordinance is aimed to give voice to the marginalized and underserved sectors to practice their rights and file necessary complaints when their rights are put at risk.
The ordinance is an important move for the city to minimize occurrence on all forms of discrimination with provisions rooted from the national and international laws. The public hearing resulted to a meaningful discussion, with representatives from different sectoral groups airing their opinions and suggestions for both technical and typographical aspects of the proposed ordinance, including the use of gender-fair language.
Moving forward
Amidst fruitful conversation among involved parties during the public hearing, clarifications and questions also surfaced relating to the definition of terms, coverage and penalties, among others. With this, the committee set a timeline for the TWG to collect further suggestions to improve the proposed ordinance’s draft before presenting it to the council. All concerned groups and individuals will have to send further suggestions for the next five days to the TWG.
Equal Access International-Philippines (EAI-PH) is currently a member of the TWG representing the cultural sector, who took part during the first public consultation dating back on September 2019 (read story here: https://ourmindanow.org/2019/11/14/eai-ph-to-help-draft-cdos-first-anti-discrimination-ordinance/). EAI-PH strongly supports the passing of the proposed ordinance deeply taking root of its mission on creating positive social change for millions of underserved people across the developing world and working towards achieving a more progressive Mindanao where acts of discrimination are not tolerated .
