By CYRIL DAYAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The LGBTQIA+ community and allies have called for the dropping of false charges against Awra Briguela, a Filipino actor arrested yesterday morning.
“We have personally spoken to Awra. I am speechless. She has been unjustly detained for over 24 hours already. She has bruises all over, and yet the Makati police [are] going all-out to spread a self-serving story to evade accountability for their illegal arrest,” Reyna Valmores, chairperson of Bahaghari Philippines, stressed in a tweet.
Founded in 2015, Bahaghari is an organization of LGBT+ Filipinos that promotes and upholds LGBT+ rights, taking a stand on issues like discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, violence, and militarization.
Briguela remains in detention after her arrest outside a pub in Makati City for allegedly starting a brawl last June 29. Among the charges that the Makati police filed against her include physical injuries, alarm and scandal, disobedience to authority and direct assault.
This, according to the Makati police, stemmed from allegations of a certain Mark Christian Ravana who claimed that Briguela and her friends approached him and demanded that he remove his shirt. He claimed that after declining, Briguela followed him and tore his shirt, causing a heated argument that escalated when her friends joined in.
However, Briguela’s friend, Zayla Nakajima, in a Facebook post, said that Ravana tried to harass her and that Briguela only came to her rescue.
Briguela may be able to post bail next week, according to reports.
Bahaghari Philippines called out the Philippine National Police’s brutality and transphobia and demanded “the urgent release of Awra and the dropping of all false, trumped-up charges against her.”
“It is also our view that while there is possibility for Awra’s papers to finish processing and that she is released today, the process is seemingly being stretched as much as possible so that she is forced to spend the weekend in jail—just like the police did with #Pride20,” added Valmores, who was among the 20 members of the LGBTQI+ community who was arrested in a Pride March in 2020.
SOGIE
For the LGBTQIA+ community, Briguela’s arrest reflects the urgency to pass the SOGIE Equality Bill which prohibits discrimination over sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.
In May 2023, a House committee approved a version of the bill. However, it was sent back to the House Committee on Rules. The latter’s chair, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, said that it is not priority legislation.
Women’s group Gabriela also called for the immediate passage of House Bill 5551 also known as the SOGIESC Equality Act of 2022, which they described as “the latest and most comprehensive version” of a law that will give “LGBTQIA+ Filipinos a fighting chance when seeking legal redress from cases of violence and discrimination.”
Such legislation, the group added, has been languishing in the legislature for 23 years.
Kabataan Partylist, in a statement, also stood with Briguela and called out the police for their brutality.
For its part, Bahaghari stressed, “It is also a reminder of the government’s treatment of Filipinos who speak truth to power: from activists to community organizers to people like Awra confronting abuse.”
Safe space
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Sol Taule said in a tweet that Republic Act No. 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act exists but it is not yet properly implemented.
Section 5 states that “restaurants, bars, cinemas, malls, buildings and other privately-owned places open to the public shall adopt a zero-tolerance policy against gender-based streets and public spaces sexual harassment.”
Taule said that she has yet to see an establishment complying with the requirement, wondering how many harassers have been prosecuted under this law.
Bahaghari called for an impartial investigation so that the people who harassed Briguela’s friends would be brought forward to answer for their actions. (JJE, DAA) 
