SOCIAL media feeds I’ve seen of late have been filled with comments on the divorce bill that recently passed the House and is on its way to the Senate that, if passed, will then be “merged” into one final version and submitted to the President of the Philippines for action.
The President has two options, as far as I remember: he can sign the bill into law, making the final form of the divorce bill the law of the land; he can pocket veto it, which means not acting on it for a specific period of time after which it passes into effect as the law of the land nevertheless; or, if he so desires, he can veto (meaning, reject) the measure outright which sends it back to the drawing board for both Houses of Congress to re-deliberate and re-enact.
‘When Congress passes a bill and the President signs it into law legalizing divorce in the Philippines, this covers the civil part of marriage from which legal rights and obligations stem.’
You can imagine the pressure the President will receive from various sectors of society urging him to do maybe the first or the third option. If I were him, I’d take the first option and make a very public signing of the bill into law. Since I wouldn’t be up for re-election anyway, I would have very little concern for an electoral backlash from the “good Catholics” who would find my action offensive.
I think the problem here lies in the fact that marriage in our jurisdiction is seen as having two aspects: the religious and the civil. The former “bestows” upon the union the “blessings of God” while the latter bestows upon the union all the rights and obligations under the laws of our land, mainly our Civil Code and elements of our Criminal Code as relevant to the marriage.
Some religions such as Buddhism do not have “religious” marriages so there’s no issue on the religious front. Others like Islam frown upon divorce but recognize that situations may arise where no reconciliation is possible, and so provide for it anyway.
But Christians? My God, no other religious group can be so morally outraged at the idea of a man putting asunder “what God put together” even if it turns out later on, as it happens, that the spouse you said God sent to you was in fact a spouse from Hell.
They’d rather you live a life of hell than break God’s “commandment” to live till death eventually does you part. Never mind the physical, emotional, psychosocial and even financial burden this inflicts on the hapless partner.
Let’s get this clear. When Congress passes a bill and the President signs it into law legalizing divorce in the Philippines, this covers the civil part of marriage from which legal rights and obligations stem. The Church and the morality police can condemn it all they want and decry the act as violative of Church teachings; so be it. Let the pair answer to their God for it. But as far as the law is concerned, they’re done with each other and free to find the happiness everyone deserves elsewhere. To demand that they become martyrs to the cause of the “till death do us part” vow is neither wise nor fair. We don’t live their horrors and we will not be the ones who need to account to God for their actions. Let them be.
So who’s afraid of divorce? The fact is, painfully so, that yes, sometimes the person you thought was a “gift from Heaven” when you first walked down the aisle can turn out to be the “spouse from Hell” sometime later — or you can be that one to the other! And then what? He or she was not forced upon you by God; you chose each other and brought God into the picture. asking Him to bless your union. And if, later on, you or she realizes that it’s been a big mistake, it’s a bigger mistake not to be allowed to take corrective action.
As I always say, if you’re allowed to remove a diseased organ from your body (your body which God and only God put together) because that diseased organ can kill you, then why can’t you “remove” yourself from a diseased relationship that you put together yourself and only asked God to bless?
For sure, the all-forgiving, all-understanding God will not mind.
But if He does, then switch religions! There’s more than one religion in this world anyway!
