BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
THE House of Representatives yesterday approved on second reading a bill seeking to legalize absolute divorce and allowing the dissolution of marriages to liberate couples in problematic marriages, a measure which was never acted upon by the Senate in previous Congresses.
Lawmakers, through viva voce voting, approved Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman’s House Bill No. 9349 which would institute absolute divorce as an alternative mode of dissolving an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage.
“The purpose of this bill is to liberate the offended spouse, who is the woman in most cases, to be free from such failed marriages,” Lagman told the plenary during the sponsorship of the measure.
In the Senate, deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros expressed the hope that the Senate leadership would include Senate Bill No. 2443, the counterpart version of the House measure, in the chamber’s legislative agenda so she can sponsor it in plenary.
“Hinihintay ko lang mailagay sa agenda ang pag-sponsor ko ng bill (I am just waiting for it to be included in the agenda so I can sponsor the bill). I do hope my colleagues can support this important measure,” she said in a statement, adding: “We vow to continue to work in the Senate to pass necessary though contentious legislation, despite the challenges we face.”
Hontiveros filed SBN 2443, or the proposed “Act expanding the ground for dissolution of marriage,” on September 18, 2023. It is a consolidation of other similar bills filed by Senators Raffy Tulfo, Robin Padilla, Pia Cayetano, and Imee Marcos.
The measure has been approved by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality and is awaiting plenary sponsorship.
In an interview last February, Hontiveros said the committee report has been signed by the committee members “months ago” but the measure has yet to be scheduled for plenary interpellations and debates. Senators Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III, Grace Poe, and Joseph Victor Ejercito have also signed the committee report.
DIVORCE BILL
Under the House-approved bill, troubled couples may file a petition for absolute divorce using the following grounds: legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified; annulment of marriage under Article 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified; separation of the spouses in fact for at least five years at the time the petition for absolute divorce is filed, and reconciliation is highly improbable; psychological incapacity as provided in Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines; irreconcilable differences; and domestic or marital abuse to include acts under Republic Act 9262, or the Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
In the previous 17th Congress under then Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the divorce bill reached as far as approval on the third and final reading but gathered dust in the Senate which sat on the measure.
Lagman said all countries worldwide have statutes on absolute divorce “in varying degrees of liberality, including all of the Catholic countries except the Vatican City State which has a population of only about 800 residents, mostly priests and nuns.”
“The Philippines is now the only country which has not legalized absolute divorce.
Considering that divorce is worldwide, there can be no blunder in unanimity for its global legalization,” he said.
“Divorce is urgently necessary in exceptional cases for couples in inordinately toxic and irreparably dysfunctional marriages, particularly the wives who are abused or abandoned,” he added.
The veteran lawyer-lawmaker said the State “has the responsibility of rescuing couples and their children from a house on fire.”
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva has said he is not inclined to support the measure, saying he prefers annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage instead of making divorce or absolute dissolution of marriage.
He said that “many of our colleagues just signed the report” so it can be discussed in the plenary.
Villanueva said that while many marriages end up in violence, the dissolution of marriage is still not the solution.
“This is where annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage comes. It would be best to just expedite the process and at the same time make it more accessible for everyone no matter what their status in life is,” he said.
MORAL VALUES
Tagbilaran Bishop Alberto Uy said the decision of the House to approve the divorce bill will contribute to the erosion of the country’s moral values.
In a radio interview, Uy said: “Divorce weakens the fabric of society by eroding the foundation of the family unit. It leads to social fragmentation, increased poverty, and a host of other societal ills.”
“By promoting divorce, we are contributing to the breakdown of social cohesion and the erosion of moral values,” he also said.
Uy appealed to lawmakers to rethink their approval of HBN 9349 and consider supporting laws that strengthen society instead of weakening it.
“I urge members of Congress to reconsider the proposed divorce bill, and instead focus on promoting policies and programs that support marriage, strengthen families, and protect the well-being of all members of society,” he said. — With Gerard Naval
