Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said he was not against the LGBTQIA, as he addressed his comments from years back that a bill that the community had long pushed for had "no chance" of passing in the chamber.
The vice presidential aspirant was asked how he would convince members of the LGBTQIA+ community to vote for him given his 2019 comment on the passage of the sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or SOGIE rights bill.
"They didn't complete the statement. No chance if we don't remove the provisions on religious freedom and educational freedom," Sotto said.
Asked if he was anti-gay or anti-gay rights despite his conservative stance on many issues, Sotto said: "Not at all."
"I am not against any bill because of the title. I am for anti-discrimination," he said.
"As a matter of fact, I have many friends in the LGBT community who are endorsing my candidacy... I don't see any problem with that. They understand me completely," he added.
The SOGIE Equality bill seeks to eliminate discrimination based on sex and SOGIE by penalizing acts such as denial of access to public services, refusal of admission to educational institutions or groups, harassment, coercion and threats.
The measure is currently pending for second reading approval in the Senate.
Sotto likened his stance on the SOGIE Equality Bill to his position on the Reproductive Health Bill, which sought free contraceptives for the poor, among others.
"They misunderstood me a lot because they didn't realize that we were only trying to remove the provisions on abortion, which is illegal in the Constitution, and population control, and then the abortifacients. That was all," he said.
"The RH Bill would not have passed if I did not agree. I was the majority leader. How could it pass if we did not agree?"
Sotto is running for vice president alongside Sen. Panfilo Lacson for president, pushing for a government that practices leadership by example.
He earlier said that he was also no longer pushing for the reimposition of death penalty as he proposed to focus on prevention and rehabilitation in dealing with the issue on illegal drugs.
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