Manila — The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is setting up “All Gender Restroom” facilities in all its seaport terminals and offices nationwide in its bid to promote gender sensitivity and inclusivity.
The facilities will be completed and available in all PPA facilities not later than the end of August this year.
PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said the adoption of such facilities has been under study for the past months in order to come up with the best and most practical solution to manage equality among all genders.
“The plan is to incorporate the gender-neutral restrooms to the existing facilities dedicated to differently-abled persons,” Santiago explained.
“The facility, which can accommodate one person at a time, can be used by anyone, regardless of gender,” Santiago said.
“PPA recognizes the needs of all our port users and the agency will continue to adopt policies in order to bring comfort to the lives of the sea-going public regardless of gender preference or expression,” Santiago added.
However, Santiago pointed out that differently-abled persons or those persons with disabilities will still have priority in using such “All Gender” facilities.
For the past couple of years, the PPA has been implementing policies for gender equality as evidenced by its current organizational set-up, which gives competent and qualified employees, regardless of gender, equal opportunities to get promoted to key positions in the agency. A number of PPA’s port management offices and key responsibility centers nationwide are now being managed by female port managers as compared to some few years back where key positions in the port agency are male-dominated.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community have likewise been given a chance to compete in positions they are most qualified and competent to perform.
“Our goal is to develop an environment of sensitivity and inclusivity for our personnel and our port users,” Santiago said.
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