President Duterte has offered the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community a seat in the urban-poor commission, which he overhauled last week.
The President last Sunday asked the LGBT community to choose their representative to be seated as commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP). All five commissioners of the PCUP were sacked by Duterte for allegedly going on unnecessary trips abroad.
“Now find me the brightest dito sa Pilipinas.… Bigyan ninyo ako ng bright na tao [Now find me the brightest here in the country… Give me a bright person]. He might be gay, he might be lesbian. I’d like to nominate or appoint somebody upon…nomination,” he said during an LGBT festival in Davao City.
“You nominate the representative from the LGBT sector [because] I fired the entire Commission [for] the Urban Poor, [including] the head for traveling so much in so short a time, as if he was using the money of the people like his own…. [So, I will have to appoint new commission heads],” the President added.
He said gays and lesbians are honest and hardworking people, and he will appreciate if someone from the ranks of the LGBT community will take charge of the PCUP. “And I would like to show that [anyone, either gay or lesbian], can always work just like an ordinary human being,” he said.
Duterte told the LGBT community he is giving them until the second week of January to nominate their representative in the urban-poor commission. He also said the sector to make sure their nominee is “bright and honest,” so as to highlight the virtue and commitment of the LGBT community.
Aside from the would-be LGBT commissioner, the President is also considering to tap 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida as head of the PCUP. Peñaflorida was recognized internationally for his efforts to educate street children in Manila through his self-decorated “kariton classroom.”