MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – They’re called Americans, Germans, Italians, Canadians, Australians — regardeless of their gender.  But for Philippine citizens, they are referred to according to their gender: Filipino for males and Filipina for females.

Gender equality advocate Senator Risa Hontiveros wants to change that.

Today, she filed a Senate bill that would legislate a single term for Filipinos or Filipinas — Filipinix.

”It will just be more convenient for everybody to use a gender-neutral term when addressing Philippine citizens without having to offend either gender.  It will also make communication simpler,” she told The Adobo Chronicles.

Hontiveros, who recently fought for the passage of a SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression )  Equality bill, added that “Filipinix” will also be inclusive of transgender people who self-identify as men or women.

The Opposition Senator got the idea from a similar practice or initiative in the United States in which a gender-neutral neologism — Latinx — is sometimes used instead of Latino or Latina to refer to people of Latin American cultural or racial identity.