14 SENATORS EVENLY SPLIT ON PROPOSED DIVORCE BILL

MANILA — Fourteen senators have revealed their stand on the divorce bill, with seven supporting the proposed legislation and seven opposing it.

Those in favor of the bill were Sens. Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Grace Poe, Raffy Tulfo, and Risa Hontiveros, chairman of the Senate Committee on Women and Children.

On the other hand, Senate President Francis Escudero, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, and Sens. Ronald dela Rosa, Joel Villanueva and Juan Miguel Zubiri were against it.

“I’m a conservative senator. I’m pro-family and pro-life,” Zubiri said in a text message.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said he has yet to study the bill.

“We want a law that still protects the marriage institution but at the same time levels the playing field even for poor litigants or couples,” he said in a text message.

Ejercito said that as a Roman Catholic, he understands the Church’s opposition to the legislation but added he was inclined to support the divorce bill.

(el Amigo/MNM)

By Liezelle Soriano

MANILA — The Office of the House Secretary General clarified on Thursday, May 23, that 131 — not the 126 initially announced — voted in favor of the Absolute Divorce Act proposal in the House of Representatives.

There was no correction made to the number of negative votes and abstentions.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the bill was approved with 126 lawmakers in favor, 109 against, and 20 abstentions.

“The earlier announced results were 126 in the affirmative, 109 in the negative, and 20 abstentions. The rectification in the Records of the House will be done when the session resumes in July 2024,” House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said in a statement.

Meanwhile, former Senate President Tito Sotto III questioned the change in the number of votes.

“When a parliamentary body reports a vote in plenary then changes it the following morning not in plenary, what do you call that? A mistake! And they have the tenacity to say I was wrong!” Sotto said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Passed incorrectly! Now they are changing the numbers out of plenary? That’s not legal!”

(el Amigo/mnm)

By Liezelle Soriano

MANILA — The House Bill on absolute divorce has been brought to the plenary for debate.

House Bill (HB) No. 9349 or the Absolute Divorce Act has been sponsored during the plenary on Tuesday by Albay Second District Representative Edcel Lagman, Cebu Third District Rep. Pablo John Garcia, Negros Occidental Fourth District Rep. Juliet Ferrer, and Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas.

Lagman said that divorce is only an option and spouses may or may not petition for divorce or they may avail of dissolution of marriage based on psychological incapacity under Article 36, annulment of marriage under Article 45 or legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code.

“A divorce decree entitles the parties the right to remarry and have another chance at marital bliss.  The divorce decree shall include and protect spousal support, children’s support and custody, and respect of the children’s legitime, as well as the interest of creditors,” he added.

Meanwhile, for Brosas, she said that the legalization of divorce in the country would mean that abused women would be free from domestic situation.

“We in Gabriela Women’s Party believe that beyond being part of this huge global circle, legalizing divorce is a means for abused women to be free from their domestic situation and allow them the opportunity to live a new life, free from violence and abuse,” Brosas said.

Earlier, Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said that Philippine laws have been making it difficult for Filipinos to leave unhappy marriages.

“Marriage as the foundation of the family no longer reflects the present realities and sensitives of many Filipino families,” Leonen said.

“The antiquated form from our colonial past is still codified in our laws and is still being reiterated in jurisprudence 135 years later,” he added.

(el Amigo/MNM)

By: Junex Doronio

OUT OF 195 COUNTRIES IN THIS PLANET, only the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, is the state outside the Vatican — considered a state and the seat of Roman Catholicism in Rome, Italy — where divorce is not allowed.

Lawmakers have filed bills to legalize divorce since 1999 but even if passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate would always relegate it to the back burner.

Until now.

For the first time since the restoration of Congress which has “two houses” after the 1986 EDSA Revolution, the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality on Tuesday, September 19, approved a consolidated measure on absolute divorce in the country.

Senate Bill No. 2443 was the consolidated measure filed by Senators Risa Hontiveros, Raffy Tulfo, Robin Padilla, Pia Cayetano, and Imee Marcos.

Aside from the authors, Senators JV Ejercito, Grace Poe, Koko Pimentel, and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda signed the report.

SB 2443 lists as grounds for divorce the following circumstances:

• five years of separation, whether continuous or broken, without a judicial decree of separation;

Once divorce is granted, each party’s status will become single for all legal intents and purposes, including the right to contract a subsequent marriage.

The bill also provides that in the case of poor individuals, the court must waive payment of filing fees and other costs for the divorce.

Furthermore, the court will also evaluate their independent source of income, property, and capacity to afford services of counsel, as well as whether they’re part of a marginalized group.

To recall, then-presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said divorce shouldn’t be “easy” if it would be allowed in the country.

Earlier reports said First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos was in favor of divorce acknowledging that some marriages don’t work out but preferred that the process should be “hard” to “break the bond.”