ALBAY Rep. Edcel Lagman yesterday slammed the international Catholic lay ecclesial movement Couples for Christ for saying divorce weakens marriages.
“Let us stop the religious hypocrisy being spread by the ‘Couples for Christ’ that because of human weakness, the Philippines must not enact a divorce law but instead mend broken marriages,” said Lagman, principal author of the divorce bill that the House approved last month.
Lagman said it is “precisely because of human frailties like marital abuse, infidelity, and abandonment, among other mortal weaknesses, that marriages are totally destroyed beyond repair.”
In a manifesto earlier, the CFC said, “Rather than judge children from broken homes, our aim should be to protect them and the rest of the society from unpleasant consequences of homes broken by divorce.”
Lagman said that in considering giving the Sacrament of Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, the exact words of Pope Francis in his footnote 351 in Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) are relevant: “The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”
“Verily, absolute divorce rescues spouses who are embattled because of their human weaknesses and their suffering children from a house on fire,” said the veteran lawyer-lawmaker.
“Divorce affords offended spouses, mostly the battered and tormented wives, to regain their freedom, self-esteem, agency, and happiness even as there is a judicial decree on the care, custody, and support of the children,” Lagman added.
The opposition leader said the sanctity of marriage “does not institute an iron-clad union which fetters and imperils the humanity of spouses.”
Earlier this month, anti-divorce Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (PL, Sagip) said he would personally ask Speaker Martin Romualdez if the House of Representatives could again vote on the controversial bill because of questions surrounding the final vote when congressmen approved House Bill No. 9349 on third and final reading on May 22.
Marcoleta expressed optimism that the House leadership would accede to his request for the House to take another vote on the bill after the House changed the official vote the following day after the voting amid questions raised by former Senate president Vicente Sotto III.
The official vote initially recorded was 126-109 negative votes with and 20 abstentions, prompting Sotto to issue a statement, saying the motion to approve the bill should have been lost because it did not meet the simple majority vote is required under the rules.
Sotto has said it has always been the practice that a simple “majority vote” is one-half plus one of all lawmakers present during the quorum, including those who abstained.
This meant that if 255 lawmakers participated in the voting process based on the vote of 126-109 with 20 abstentions, 129 votes were needed to approve the measure.
The next morning after passing the bill, the House announced that the number of affirmative votes was actually 131 and not 126, prompting Marcoleta to say that the correction made it appear that the House was merely “chasing to reach” the majority vote.
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Manila said lawmakers should reconsider their support for divorce.
“The Commission on Family and Life of the Archdiocese of Manila strongly opposes this proposed bill, which will certainly destroy Filipino families when it will be enacted into law,” said a statement signed by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jose Advincula and Commission on Family and Life head Fr Joel Jason.
“Lawmakers are elected by the public to uphold the Constitution. It is their first and most sacred duty. We appeal to our honorable men and women of Congress to take a second look at their sworn duty before God and country,” they added.
The Manila Archdiocese said the State must instead protect the family and promote “indissoluble’ marriage because marriage is a permanent union entered into by one man and one woman, committed to each other for life, as well as for the procreation and rearing of children. — With Gerard Naval
