This is why, according to Aaron Moises Bonete, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), there is a need to “not just recognize that people have multiple identities, but also to make sure that this is included in SRHR service delivery.”

Bahaghari Center rolled out “Saving Hands” that eyes, as a first step, to tap Deaf LGBTQIA+ communities all over the country to: capture their lived experiences related to SRHR as an attempt for them to co-develop solutions to SRHR issues that befall them.

“We focus on participatory approaches,” Bonete said, “to guarantee that the voices of those at the fringes of society, such as Deaf LGBTQIA+ people, are included in solution-identification and implementation.”

Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center, added that there is a need to “go beyond token representation”. “Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos can help deal with SRHR issues if/when given the chance. So we engage them.”

The discussions with Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos were facilitated by Michael David dela Cruz Tan, MDC, founder of Bahaghari Center and editor in chief of Outrage Magazine, the only publication exclusively for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines.

#SavingHands is supported by Mujer-LGBT Organization.

Without this participation, emphasized Aaron Moises Bonete, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center), “the risk of tokenism is high because there’d be a claim of being pro-minorities even when responses are actually impositions from outsiders.”

Bahaghari Center is currently rolling out “Saving hands” that eyes, as a first step, to tap Deaf LGBTQIA+ communities all over the country to: capture their lived experiences related to SRHR as an attempt for them to co-develop solutions to SRHR issues that befall them.

In Zamboanga City, Deaf LGBTQIA+ people stressed “the need to make sure grassroots voices are elevated,” said Mx Disney Aguila, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center. There is, of course, recognition that “we know of this already even if not too many seem to be listening anyway.”

Which is why, for Bahaghari Center, “those in power should go where the marginalized actually are,” Aguila added.

The discussions with Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos were facilitated by Michael David dela Cruz Tan, MDC, founder of Bahaghari Center and editor in chief of Outrage Magazine, the only publication exclusively for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines.

#SavingHands is supported by Mujer-LGBT Organization.

Article 148 governs the property relations of couples who are living together but cannot legally marry, acknowledging co-ownership based on their actual contributions.

The case of the warring lovers

The decision stemmed from the case of two women, Josef and Evalyn G. Ursua, who used to live together as a couple. A year into their relationship, they purchased a house and lot in Quezon City. They agreed to register the property in one partner’s name to facilitate banking transactions.

When they separated, they agreed to sell the property and divide the proceeds equally. One partner signed an Acknowledgment stating that the other had paid about 50% of the purchase and renovation costs. However, she later refused to sell the property and denied that her former partner was a co-owner.

To protect her interest, the former partner annotated an adverse claim on the title and demanded partition of the property. When this failed, she filed a case before the Regional Trial Court (RTC), relying on the Acknowledgment as proof of co-ownership.

The RTC dismissed the case for lack of proof of contribution and even ordered her to pay damages. The Court of Appeals affirmed the RTC but reversed the award of damages. Both parties appealed to the SC.

The SC reversed the lower courts. It clarified the provisions in the Family Code governing the property relations of unmarried couples living together – Article 147 and (the above-mentioned) Article 148.

Article 147 applies to unmarried couples who may legally marry, where property acquired during their cohabitation is presumed jointly owned; and Article 148 applies to couples who are not permitted to marry, where only properties obtained through actual contribution are considered common property.

Since the Family Code only allows marriage between a man and a woman, the SC held that same-sex couples necessarily fall under Article 148.

And in a decision written by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, the SC’s Second Division granted a former partner’s complaint for partition of property and recognized her as a co-owner of the house and lot she shared with her same-sex partner. The SC found that the signed Acknowledgement, where one partner admitted that the other paid about half of the property costs, was a binding admission and sufficient proof of actual contribution. This established co-ownership.

Law on LGBTQIA+ relationships still needed

The SC revisited its admonishment of Jesus Nicardo M. Falcis III who, in 2015, questioned the constitutionality of the provision of the Family Code of the Philippines defining marriage as “between a man and a woman”. The SC stated that the “petition did not present an actual case or controversy that would warrant this Court’s exercise of judicial review”, so it “cannot rule on the constitutionality of the provisions… without arrogating legislative power unto itself and violating the principle of separation of powers”.

Nonetheless, this time, the SC emphasized that, without a law recognizing same-sex marriage, Congress and other government branches must address same-sex couples’ rights, as courts alone cannot resolve all related policy concerns:

“(T)his Court does not have the monopoly to assure the freedom and rights of homosexual couples. With the political, moral, and cultural questions that surround the issue concerning the rights of same-sex couples, political departments especially the Congress must be involved to quest for solutions, which balance interests while maintaining fealty to fundamental freedoms. The process of legislation exposes the experiences of homosexuals who have been oppressed, ensuring that they are understood by those who stand with the majority. Mostly, public reason needs to be first shaped through the crucible of campaigns and advocacies within our political forums before it is sharpened for judicial fiat.”

Same-sex relationships are normal

In his concurring opinion, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen explained that Article 148 does not distinguish based on gender and applies to all forms of cohabitation. He emphasized that a same-sex relationship is a normal relationship which must be covered by Article 148. “Otherwise, we render legally invisible some forms of legitimate intimate relationships.”

Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro‑Javier, in her concurrence, added that Article 148 is broad enough to cover same-sex cohabitation and should not be limited to heterosexual relationships, “(g)iven the prevailing values in modern society as well as the glaring yet unjustified difference in the treatment of heterosexual couples vis-à-vis their homosexual counterparts.”

Limited ‘success’

Largely celebrated in the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines, LGBTQIA+ organization Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center) nonetheless stated that while “a win is a win, this ruling actually also highlights the urgent need to pass a law that will protect the human rights of LGBTQIA+ Filipinos, including those in LGBTQIA+ relationships,” said co-executive director Aaron Moises C. Bonete.

“These are non-issues for heterosexual people in relationships, since existing laws recognize them. And yet those in LGBTQIA+ relationships have to file cases just to also get what should also be rightfully theirs. The inherent bias is not loss on the SC, but is continuously ignored by Congress by refusing to come up with a law that guarantees that LGBTQIA+ Filipinos, including their relationships, get the same legal treatment as everybody else,” Bonete said. And so “yes, we treat this as a win, albeit a small one. But it’s also a call for us to push, and push harder to pass a law that will legally recognize us and our relationships.”

And for the Rainbow Rights Philippines, “while the ruling is a nod toward inclusivity, we highlight a major concern: Article 148 is reserved for ‘void’ unions and requires strict proof of ‘actual contribution’ to claim shared property.”

As such, while the organization welcomed the so-called progress, “we raise the question of the inferior protection provided by the classification. We continue our call on the government to uphold equality and recognize that our love is valid.”

The intention, said Mx Disney Aguila, co-xecutive director of Bahaghari Center, is two-pronged. “We want to surface SRHR issues of Deaf LGBTQIA+ people in the Philippines so that, eventually, we can use the information gathered in the development of actual efforts for them.”

“Deaf people, among persons with disabilities, are often de-sexualized even if the truth is we have the same sexual and reproductive health and rights as everyone else,” Aguila said. “It is time we engage Deaf people in SRHR conversations, hoping that they – themselves – can help in the development of solutions to benefit them.”

The discussions with Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos were facilitated by Michael David dela Cruz Tan, MDC, founder of Bahaghari Center and editor in chief of Outrage Magazine, the only publication exclusively for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines.

#SavingHands is supported by Mujer-LGBT Organization.

But as the world observes World AIDS Day (WAD) every December 1, “there is a need to go beyond the numbers,” stressed Michael David dela Cruz Tan, MDC, editor in chief of Outrage Magazine, the only publication for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines. “Stories abound on: why people get infected, why people fear getting tested, impacts of the virus not just medically by also psycho-socially on those who test positive, profiteering of treatment facilities, impacts of the failures of DOH, impacts of HIV on people around PLHIVs, and so on.”

Tan emphasized: “These stories should be told, they should be spread. Because to deal with HIV means not just dealing with numbers, but the lives behind these numbers.”

Tan lamented, for instance, that even now, only 67% of the total number of PLHIVs in the country are on lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Sadly, too, only 57% had viral load testing. And yet “none is asking PLHIVs why this is so. And the answers are in the stories of PLHIVs – e.g. on their lived experiences while dealing with HIV service providers, on what they go through in the families, communities, workplaces, and so on.”

As of end-September, 5,583 confirmed HIV-positive individuals were reported to the One HIV/AIDS & STI Information System (OHASIS). This is 22% higher than the cases recorded in the same quarter last year. Ninety-four percent (94%) of the total reported cases were male, and 30% were among the youth aged 15-24 years old, 49% were 25-34 years old, 18% were 35-49 years old, and 3% were aged 50 and older.

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis is already available in the Philippines to prevent the spread of HIV (99% effectivity rate) since March 2021, but only 72,264 Filipinos are using it. Most (81%) come from facilities in NCR, CALABARZON (4A), and Central Luzon.

In HIV, “every story matters,” Tan said. “This is not just to validate the very human experience of those infected and affected by HIV, but also to ascertain, to determine how we can move forward in both preventing the spread of HIV and in rendering services to those already living with HIV. The answers on how we can better our services, our responses are in the stories. We just have to listen.”

For WAD 2025, Outrage Magazine and Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy, Inc. (Bahaghari Center) released snippets from Red Lives, a collection of stories of PLHIVs and people in their lives.

This is part of the #SavingHands initiative of Bahaghari Center to better understand SRHR issues faced by Deaf LGBTQIA Filipinos, and then co-develop solutions to deal with these issues.

“Persons with disabilities, including Deaf people, have the same sexual and reproductive health and rights as everyone else,” said Aaron Moises C. Bonete, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center. “But many still face barriers not because of their disabilities but because of society’s attitudes, inaccessible systems, and the lack of information in the languages they use.”

#SavingHands, Bonete added, “helps inform our programs by grounding them in the lived contexts of Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos, and highlighting the barriers that continue to limit their access to SRHR.”

“Talking with Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos from different provinces is essential because their needs are shaped by their local environments,” added Bahaghari Center co-director Mx Disney Aguila. “Context changes from place to place, and so do the barriers. Listening is how we create SRHR programs that respond to their realities.”

Facilitating the discussions with Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos is Michael David dela Cruz Tan, MDC, founder of Bahaghari Center and editor in chief of Outrage Magazine, the only publication exclusively for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines.

#SavingHands is supported by Mujer-LGBT Organization.

“SRHR – on its own – remains a major concern in the Philippines,” stated Aaron Moises C. Bonete, co-executive director of Bahaghari Center. “And this is even if we may seem to talk about it, and yet not do enough about it.”

It is estimated that every day, more than 500 girls aged 15–19 become mothers, and nearly half of all new HIV cases involve young people; both are SRHR issues.

For Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos, the situation is even more complex and challenging, emphasized Mx Disney Aguila, the Deaf transgender woman co-executive director of Bahaghari Center. For instance, “health information and services often lack #FSL interpretation, leaving many without access to critical care and support.”

Now, through #SavingHands, “we aim to identify the SRHR issues that #Deaf LGBTQIA+ people face,” Aguila said, adding that, just as important, “we’re eyeing to co-create inclusive, empowering solutions that are by and for the community.”

Interviews for needs assessment will similarly be done in other (select) locations all over the country, from Baguio City to Iloilo City and Zamboanga City.

#SavingHands builds on previous HIV-focused efforts of Bahaghari Center, including providing training on community-based HIV screening to Deaf LGBTQIA+ organizations all over the Philippines.

“This project deepens our commitment to reproductive justice by ensuring that no one is left behind in the fight for health, rights, and dignity,” said Bonete. “Because true empowerment begins when every voice — and every hand — is heard.”

#SavingHands is supported by Mujer-LGBT Organizations, Inc.

Dubbed as a proactive approach to SRHR, the program aims not just to develop vital and basic SRHR information through accessible online and offline resources, but also the capacity-building of community leaders and organizations, and community organizing to strengthen collective advocacy for inclusive and affirming sexual health services.

“It cannot be stressed enough that sexual and reproductive health and rights are for everyone. So we must ensure that they are not only recognized in principle, but available and accessible for everyone, without exception,” said Mx Disney Aguila, Bahaghari Center Co-Executive Director.

For Bahaghari Center Co-Director Aaron Moises Bonete, this is needed to link global frameworks with local realities. 

In a 2005 statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that people should be able to experience their sexuality positively and with dignity, free from stigma and violence. “And yet in the Philippines, urgent challenges persist. Among others, teenage pregnancies rose by 35%, while HIV cases among youth increased by 500% over the past decade, with 57 new cases reported daily. We need to come up with initiatives addressing local contexts about these global concerns.”

This year, Bahaghari Center’s priority is to provide vital and basic SRHR information, even as it prepares the ground for more inclusive and affirming SRHR advocacy through environmental scoping/baseline research on the SRHR issues and needs of Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos.

“We hope to signal our dedication to ensuring that sexual health is inclusive, welcoming, and affirming for all — especially for persons with disabilities within LGBTQIA+ communities often left behind in policy and practice,” Bonete said.

#WorldSexualHealthDay #WorldSexualHealthMonth #SRHR101 #BahaghariCenter #HealthAndRightsForAll