Members and allies of the LGBTQ community participate in the 2023 Manila Pride March themed “Samo’t saring Lakas, Sama-sama sa Landas” in Circuit Makati on June 24, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — A bill allowing queer couples to make medical decisions for their partners through the Right To Care (RTC) card program was filed in Congress on Monday.

According to a document obtained by ABS-CBN News on Tuesday, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña filed the bill, making the Department of Health the facilitator of the application for the health care proxies.

The "health care agent" or the partner will have the authority to make decisions for their partners, get records and information for informed decisions, and priority to decide on their behalf unless decided otherwise.

With the bill, health care providers are obliged to comply with the decisions of the proxy, but they are not liable for their decisions.  

The Right To Care card program was first introduced in Quezon City in 2023. It uses the Special Power of Attorney, describing it "as though you held the power of a civil marriage contract."

In an earlier report by ABS-CBN News, the Quezon City government said it has tallied 800 couples registered for the RTC card, while around 423 healthcare providers have already committed to accepting the RTC cards.

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Adrian de Guzman, one of the people behind the RTC card program, welcomed the progress of their project hoping for more inclusive laws legislated.

"'Yung may biglang nag-file to automatically mainstream the impact of the card is beyond words. Same pa rin naman ang vision — hope it opens more doors for conversations about the LGBTQIA+ community finally getting the rights we have been longing for," de Guzman said.

"And sana isa siyang collective effort to pull each other up, including our other efforts like the SOGIESC Bill, and sana ma-receive din ang program ng QC about Trans Health Care to the national level," he added.

The SOGIESC Equality Bill has been filed in Congress in various iterations and has languished there for more than 20 years.

Opponents of the bill — including Sen. Joel Villanueva and his father, religious leader and CIBAC party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva — worry that passage of the bill would create "special rights" for LGBTQIA+ people and threaten "social order."

Sen. Villanueva last year suggested a more "holistic" anti-discrimination bill to benefit all marginalized groups.

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