Marriage in the Philippines is considered as highly sacred. Being largely Catholic, dissolution of marriage is strongly opposed. This is one of the challenges that the Congress is facing as it puts into motion a law that will legalize divorce in the country.
The House Bill 7303 or “An Act Instituting Absolute Divorce In the Philippines and for other purposes” was submitted to Congress in 2018. The bill seeks to legalize divorce in the country to provide a more affordable and more efficient alternative to dissolution of marriage.
Section 2 of the bill states that it “shall also give the opportunity to spouses in irremediably failed marriages to secure an absolute divorce decree under limited grounds and well-defined judicial procedures to terminate a continuing dysfunction of a long broken marriage; save the children from the pain, stress, and agony consequent to their parents’ constant marital clashes; and grant the divorced spouses the right to marry again for another chance to achieve marital bliss.”
Debates on the bill took months before it progressed but it was placed in the backburner when the public joined the discussion. A survey done by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 53% of the Filipinos are in favor of the bill. However, in April 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed disagreement with the divorce bill saying that his daughter, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, is not in favor of it.
The President’s stand on the enactment of the bill, contributed to the division of principles and beliefs among members of the Congress.
CIBAC Party-list Rep. Bro. Eddie Villanueva who opposed the bill, said “it is a clear defiance to God and to the Constitution because it will terribly degrade the sacrosanctness of marriage as an inviolable institution.” He also suggested that “what we really need is to improve the annulment process and make it pro-poor in terms of cost and time. It may necessitate an executive action or a legislative one, but certainly not a divorce bill.”
On the other hand Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the authors of the bill, emphasized that “Divorce will allow grounds that are supervening the marriage like marital infidelity, domestic violence, chronic gambling and engagement in illegal drugs and at the same time allow remarriage.”
In favor of the bill are Senators Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, and Koko Pimentel. However, Koko Pimentel said that he will only support the bill if a different term for divorce is used.
Some of the Senators who oppose the bill are Manny Pacquiao, Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, and the Senate President Tito Sotto.
While a significant number of members from the lower chamber of Congress support the bill, the opposite is happening in the Senate. In February 2020, the bill received 134 affirmative votes, 57 negative and two abstention from the House Committee. But it was rejected in the Senate.
Where does the bill go from here?
Unfortunately, it might take more years to discuss the divorce bill again since addressing pandemic problems is a top priority now. The advocates of the bill can continue pushing for it but they may need to wait until the end of the next election cycle in 2022 to ensure a seamless and orderly process.