House OKs easier marriage annulment

MANILA, Philippines — Marriage annulment may soon become easier.

The House of Representatives approved on second reading last Tuesday night a bill that will do away with the long and costly judicial process of marriage annulment.

A third and final approval by the House is usually just a formality.

Under the bill, a marriage annulment duly approved by the Catholic Church or any other religious group will have the same effect as a civil annulment, making the legal process unnecessary, according to Leyte Rep. Yedda Kittilstvedt-Romualdez.

House Bill 6779 provides that whenever a marriage – duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or religious sect in the Philippines – is subsequently annulled or dissolved in a final judgment or decree in accordance with the canons or precepts of the church or religious sect, the annulment or dissolution shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment or dissolution issued by a competent court.

The measure also provides that the status of children of marriages subject of the Church annulment decree shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order 209, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.

Romualdez was one of the principal authors, along with House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia, of the now approved substitute HB 6779, entitled “An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of Church Annulment Decrees.”

The two lawmakers sponsored the measure that was endorsed by the House committee on population and family relations headed by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones.

Couples married under the Catholic faith will have only annulment as an option.

Under the current laws and legal setup, only the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines, which is based on Sharia or Islamic law, recognizes divorce.

“The good of our children and the good of society hang in the balance with every decision to declare a marriage null and void,” said Romualdez, vice chairperson of the House committee on government enterprises and privatization.

“In this context, recognizing the civil effects of Church annulment decrees will address the need to ensure that those who find themselves in such a difficult marital situation will have the benefit of a more efficient and affordable procedure that can help ease their conscience and may permit them to move on in freedom from a truly irreparable relationship,” she explained.

Garcia underscored the importance for Congress to give civil recognition of church-decreed annulment in all religions because “every single one is entitled to equal protection of the law.”

“There is no reason to distinguish among religions, churches and sects because – as far as marriage and the dissolution thereof are concerned – no such substantial distinction exists,” she said in her separate sponsorship speech.

“It is time that the dissolution of marriages of other religions, churches and sects – as, for instance, the Catholic majority in the Philippines, from whose Canon Law, ironically, we borrowed the concept of psychological incapacity as a basis for declaration of nullity of marriage under the Family Code – be given equal civil effect,” Garcia added.