Duterte wants LGBT representation in anti-poverty body

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) is likely to get a representative from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

After revealing that he wants Efren Peñaflorida and Davao City’s Randy Halasan to be part of the PCUP, President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday, December 17, that he is looking for a “bright” and “honest” person to represent the LGBT community in the PCUP.

“Kindly do it. I’ll give you until second week of January,” Duterte told a gathering of the LGBT community here in Davao City.

“Give me a bright person. He might be gay, [she] might be a lesbian. I’d like to nominate somebody to be [a] representative of the LGBT sector,” he said.

Duterte made this announcement a couple of days after he said he would like Peñaflorida, 2009 CNN Hero of the Year, and Halasan, 2014 Ramon Magsaysay awardee, to join the PCUP.

The President had sacked officials of the PCUP, led by its chairman, former Kabataan representative Terry Ridon.

In a Christmas party Duterte hosted for Davao City-based media, he called Ridon “buang” (crazy) over the latter’s overseas travels.

But Ridon said the trips were justified as they were approved by the President himself. – Rappler.com