UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque (PPD file photo)
MANILA – UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque favors the legalization of same-sex marriage because everyone deserves to choose whoever they want to love.
If elected, Roque, a human rights lawyer, said he would file a bill legalizing same-sex marriage for the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual) community.
“Pabor po ako diyan dahil hindi po puwede manghimasok ang estado pagdating sa isyu kung sinong mamahalin at sinong magiging kapiling sa buhay (I am in favor of that because the estate cannot interfere when it comes to the issue of who to love and who to be with in life),” Roque said.
On Jan. 6, 2020, the Supreme Court announced it had dismissed a motion to reconsider its September 2019 ruling denying a petition to approve same-sex marriage.
Roque also said he favors divorce so that children will not suffer from parents’ “bad marriage.”
“Pabor din po ako dyan kasi talaga naman pong may mga taong nagkakamali ang nagbabayad po ay ang mga anak (I'm also in favor of that because there are really people who make mistakes, it's the children who pay) when the parents are stuck in a bad marriage,” he said.
In August 2021, the House Committee on Population and Family Relations endorsed a bill for full approval that reinstituted absolute divorce as an alternative mode for the dissolution of marriage in the Philippines.
The committee unanimously approved the unnumbered substitute bill that would allow absolute divorce in the country. (PR)
