Aug 12, 2010
MANILA, Philippines—A women’s party-list group in Congress yesterday refiled a controversial bill to legalize divorce in the country.
Gabriela Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana De Jesus stressed legalizing divorce would give “married couples in irreparable marriages another legal remedy that they can resort to in addition to the country’s existing laws on legal separation and annulment.”
They said a divorce law could help put an end to domestic violence still prevalent among married Filipino couples.
The Philippines is one of only two countries in the world (excluding the Vatican) that has not legalized divorce.
“For women in abusive marital relationships, the need for a divorce law is real. It is high time that we give Filipino couples, especially the women, this option,” said Ilagan and De Jesus in the bill’s explanatory note.
Five grounds
The refiled measure, now renamed House Bill No. 1799 (An Act Introducing Divorce in the Philippines), lists down five grounds for the filing of a petition for divorce:
1. Petitioner has been separated de facto (in fact) from his or her spouse for at least five years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable;
2. Petitioner has been legally separated from his or her spouse for at least two years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable;
3. When the spouses suffer from irreconcilable differences that have caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage;
4. When one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations;
5. Any of the grounds for legal separation that has caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
Opposition
The refiling of the bill quickly elicited an objection from Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who said, “That is like giving a married couple a weapon of mass destruction that they can use against each other even for petty, solvable marital problems.”
Buhay party-list Rep. Erwin Tieng also said his group was against divorce because it was tantamount to giving troubled marriages an “exit clause from a very important union.”
He suggested “preempting” the dissolution of marriages by effective counseling or “better family relations” programs from the Church, government and volunteer groups.
The bill’s authors, however, said a divorce law would address the issue of domestic violence. Police statistics in 2009 showed that 19 women a day fell victim to marital violence.
Gabriela Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana De Jesus stressed legalizing divorce would give “married couples in irreparable marriages another legal remedy that they can resort to in addition to the country’s existing laws on legal separation and annulment.”
They said a divorce law could help put an end to domestic violence still prevalent among married Filipino couples.
The Philippines is one of only two countries in the world (excluding the Vatican) that has not legalized divorce.
“For women in abusive marital relationships, the need for a divorce law is real. It is high time that we give Filipino couples, especially the women, this option,” said Ilagan and De Jesus in the bill’s explanatory note.
Five grounds
The refiled measure, now renamed House Bill No. 1799 (An Act Introducing Divorce in the Philippines), lists down five grounds for the filing of a petition for divorce:
1. Petitioner has been separated de facto (in fact) from his or her spouse for at least five years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable;
2. Petitioner has been legally separated from his or her spouse for at least two years at the time of the filing of the petition and reconciliation is highly improbable;
3. When the spouses suffer from irreconcilable differences that have caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage;
4. When one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations;
5. Any of the grounds for legal separation that has caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
Opposition
The refiling of the bill quickly elicited an objection from Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who said, “That is like giving a married couple a weapon of mass destruction that they can use against each other even for petty, solvable marital problems.”
Buhay party-list Rep. Erwin Tieng also said his group was against divorce because it was tantamount to giving troubled marriages an “exit clause from a very important union.”
He suggested “preempting” the dissolution of marriages by effective counseling or “better family relations” programs from the Church, government and volunteer groups.
The bill’s authors, however, said a divorce law would address the issue of domestic violence. Police statistics in 2009 showed that 19 women a day fell victim to marital violence.
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