By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Stressing that divorce is an accessible legal way to liberate from abusive marriages, House Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas has assailed Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada for saying that the bill’s chances of passage in the Senate would be like “going through the eye of a needle.”
Estrada cited his Roman Catholic beliefs as grounds for his objection to the divorce bill which was passed by the House of Representatives before Congress adjourned “sine die” (indefinitely).
“We shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the alarming cases of domestic violence for the sake of religious dogma,” Brosas pointed out.
She also castigated Estrada’s remark that the divorce bill will not address hunger.
“The proposed bill was never intended to solve poverty; its goal is to provide an accessible and affordable legal avenue for individuals trapped in irreparable and abusive marriages to regain their freedom,” Brosas asserted.
She added that the senators should base their decisions on the needs of the majority of Filipinos.
“The role of the State is to uphold human rights and gender equality, not to entrench patriarchal norms that enable spousal abuse and marital imprisonment of women,” Brosas emphasized.
(el Amigo/mnm)
