In the absence of a national-level law, local government units (LGUs, such as cities and municipalities) can choose to protect their LGBTQ constituents from discrimination.

Our client, the Quezon City Local Government, serves the Philippines’ most populous city at 3.1 million inhabitants. Quezon City established its Gender and Development department in 2002 and its Pride Council in 2013. In 2014, it enacted an ordinance that made it punishable to deprive anyone of employment, education, services, and accommodation on the basis of SOGIE.

Sadly, discrimination still happened, especially in medical-related matters. How could Quezon City advance healthcare equality for LGBTQ partners?

Equality begins with the right to care.

If the law has yet to address discrimination based on sexual orientation, what if it could also be our ally? What already existed was a legal document known as a Special Power of Attorney. A Special Power of Attorney grants the bearer authority to perform specific actions on behalf of the principal. It is primarily used for financial transactions and property.

What if a Special Power of Attorney could be repurposed for medical decision-making for LGBTQ partners? Not as a financial tool, but as a healthcare ally? What if LGBTQ partners could be bearer AND principal for each other?

Introducing the Right to Care Card. A Special Power of Attorney card that can grant medical-decision making rights to queer couples.

The Right to Care card is a portable proof that having the right to care for your loved ones should not be limited to a specific gender.

We let the Right to Care card get launched by an equality champion –– the Mayor of Quezon City to address this healthcare injustice on the day of Pride March, the biggest Pride March in Southeast Asia, attended voluntarily by 110,000 LGBTQs clamoring for equal rights.

In the sea of Pride-related efforts happening everywhere, the Right to Care card was a step that the Quezon City Gender and Development council took to make their city the safest space for the LGBTQ community, which is a solution that is a first of its kind in the Philippines.

The Right to Care Card takes a Special Power of Attorney – a legal document commonly used to assign an agent for financial decisions and repurposes it to assign an agent for medical decision making.

The signed SPA by the couples gets uploaded in a government website powered by Quezon City. To access the digital, untamperable copy of the Special Power of Attorney, couples just need to scan the unique QR code on their card and enter the pin that they can set together.

Created together with multiple legal teams, Quezon City Gender and Development Council’s Right to Care Card legalizes what was previously thought to be impossible while still obeying the Philippine Constitution. While it is simple on the surface, it is a truly innovative approach, and a giant step for equality in the healthcare system of the Philippines.

Before the card launch, no Philippine hospital could legally allow same-sex partners to make medical decisions for each other.

After the launch, 890 couples registered immediately, making the Quezon City lawmakers enact Ordinance 3221, known as the “Right to Care Ordinance.” Now, ALL 423 healthcare providers in Quezon City must honor the Right to Care Card.

155 regional and global media outlets featured the launch of the Right to Care Card. The organic pickup and online conversations generated 85.2M ORGANIC impressions, too.

Half of the total Pride-related conversations on X (formerly Twitter) mentioned the card.

After the launch, the Department of Health and the Commission on Human Rights cited the effort as a monumental step towards achieving genuine equality.

Talks have also begun with multiple cities across the nation about adopting the card.