The legal process of ending a marriage is known as divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage). It’s the process of terminating a marriage or marital union under the rule of law of a particular country or state, a legal dissolution of marriage by a court or other competent body.
Annulment is the only legal route to get out of a marriage for most Filipino citizens, as the Philippines is the “only country in the world” that does not allow divorce.
Recently on May 15, the House of Representatives approved on second reading the Edcel Lagman House Bill 9349, the proposed “Absolute Divorce Act”.
The bill outlines grounds for divorce including physical violence or severe abuse towards the petitioner or their child, addiction to drugs, alcoholism, chronic gambling, homosexuality, infidelity, unjustified abandonment for over a year, and couples separated for at least five years.
One of the groups who opposes the bill is the Roman Catholic Church.
But critics opine that the Catholic Church actually has its own National Tribunal of Appeals which oversees marriage annulment cases.
The Iglesia ni Kristo prohibits divorce, and maintains that couples in troubled marriages should work on their differences.
Bishop Modesto Villasanta of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, meanwhile, expressed that the UCCP is “open to discuss” the issue of divorce.
Whether or not divorce should be legalized in the Philippines involves the moral, social, economic, and psychological issues, given that our Constitution holds sacred the dignity of every human person, the sanctity of family life, the protection of the youth’s moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being, as well as the fundamental equality of men and women before the law.
Proponents of the bill are led by groups advocating for women’s rights, mainly women who are abused by their husbands, women whose Filipino husbands have divorced them in other countries and remarried, and spouses who find their respective interests mutually-exclusive, and their differences irreconcilable.
Studies have disclosed data that show that: divorce promotes, rather than contravenes, public policies on the sanctity of family life, dignity of every human being, protection of the youth’s moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being, and the fundamental equality of men and women, as embodied in the Constitution; divorce is part of our culture, as reflected in the practices of the indigenous peoples and the Muslim Filipinos; divorce does not destroy a family but merely provides relief for the victims of an already-broken family by giving them hope, and a genuine chance to be part of a real family; it enables spouses of a failed marriage to avoid illicit relationships by allowing them to remarry; custody battles result from the spouses’ decision to live apart, with or without legal imprimatur; and with the proper safeguards, divorce cannot be easily abused.
An essential aspect of our culture is the desire to keep the Filipino family intact but for the commitment, to carry any meaning at all, has to be willingly entered into, and willingly maintained.
The idea is lost when spouses merely stay together because they are left with no other choice.
It is similarly lost when spouses live separately, to be with their respective illegitimate families.
Without the requisite commitment, there is no point in maintaining the marriage. It would be nothing but a farce, a charade, and a mockery of the social institution which we hold most dear.
June happens to be the “Marry Month” when more couples want to tie the knot. Just remember, sometimes love is not enough.
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