BY RAYMOND AFRICA and WENDELL VIGILIA
A DAY after the House approved a divorce bill, Senate President Francis Escudero yesterday said the passage of its counterpart measure will depend on the “personal” decision of senators.
“My position on the divorce bill is that it will be a conscience, personal vote. There is no party, majority, minority stand on this. This is a personal decision based on their religious beliefs,” Escudero said in Filipino at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
Asked if he will support the bill, Escudero said he is more keen on improving and expanding annulment and making it affordable and accessible.
The House on Wednesday approved House Bill No. 9349 which seeks to legalize absolute divorce and allow the dissolution of marriages to liberate couples in problematic marriages.
After the passage, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a principal author of the bill, asked the Senate to pass its version.
The House first approved a divorce bill in 2018 under the 17th Congress, but no measure was passed by the Senate.
Yesterday, another principal author supported Lagman’s call and urged the new Senate leadership to act on the counterpart measure.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela) asked Escudero to include in the list of the Senate’s priority bills Senate Bill No. 2443 or the proposed “Dissolution of Marriage Act,” which she said has been pending for passage on second reading since September 2023.
“It is time to align our laws with the realities faced by many Filipino families. We urge the Senate to pass the divorce bill to ensure that every Filipino has the right to leave violent relationships and for children to grow up in a loving environment.”
Brosas said the Senate has to recognize that there is “an urgent need to provide a legal remedy for individuals trapped in abusive and irreparable marriages.”
“Many Filipinos, particularly women and children, are suffering due to the lack of affordable and accessible legal mechanism to dissolve dysfunctional and harmful marriages. The passage of the divorce bill is not just a legislative milestone, but a humanitarian imperative,” Brosas said. “Huwag na nating ipilit na ikulong ang kababaihan sa isang mapang-abusong relasyon (Let’s not force trap women in abusive relationships). There is a need to protect the rights and well-being of individuals in oppressive marital situations.”
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco yesterday issued a memorandum correcting the result of the voting on House Bill No. 9349 (An Act Reinstituting Absolute Divorce as an Alternative Mode for the Dissolution of Marriage), changing the number of congressmen who voted in favor to 131 (from 126) while no changes were made to the number of negative votes (109) and abstentions (20).
Lagman said former Senate President Vicente Sotto III was mistaken when he said the motion to approve the divorce bill should have been declared lost because the rules require a majority vote of the quorum.
An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) slammed the House for approving the bill.
“In essence, divorce is anti-family, anti-marriage, and anti-children. “It’s a betrayal of their constitutional mandate to uphold marriage and the family,” said Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Public Affairs.
He said legalizing divorce cannot solve all marital problems.
“The fact remains that divorce is not the ultimate solution to problematic unions,” he said noting there are “legal remedies to couple separation.” — With Gerard Naval
