Police officers in the Philippines are soon to be ‘sensitized’ to LGBT issues through training from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGHRC) and Ladlad, the world’s only LGBT political party.

The police training will include a dialogue with LGBT community members and six three-day gender and sexuality workshops with relevant officers in major provinces all over the Philippines

Police Chief Superintendent Nestor Fajura, head of the Philippines National Police (PNP) human rights affairs office, said he has received consistent complaints of police misconduct towards LGBT people.

‘Human rights are for humans and LGBT persons are not to be excluded from the protection of the police when we apply the rule of law,’ Chief Supt. Fajura said.

‘The aim of this engagement with the LGBT sector is to sensitize the police force to bring about attitudinal change.’

The police chief added that the team behind the training would recommend that the rights of LGBT people be included in education programs for all police officers.

‘This is a major breakthrough in working toward achieving equal protection for all,’ said Ging Cristobal, project co-ordinator for the Asia program of IGLHRC.

‘A history of abuse and discrimination against the LGBT community created a distrust of the PNP, which has made it difficult for LGBT advocates to engage with the police force. We are encouraged to see Police Chief Supt. Fajura’s willingness to engage with the LGBT community to address these human rights violations.’

PNP has a history of targeting LGBT people with extortion, veteran Filipino gay rights activist Oscar Atadero said:

‘We have been getting so many distress calls from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who were arrested or threatened with charges and disclosure of their identities – their civil rights were violated.’

Raymond Alikpala, author of Of God and Men: A Life in the Closet and the third congressional candidate for Ladlad, said that this cooperation between LGBT groups and the police for training ‘has not really happened before’. He said:

‘The cooperation between the PNP and LGBT groups is significant in that the national police finally recognize the LGBT sector as an integral part of Filipino society deserving of human rights protection.’