Equal punishment sought for unfaithful spouses

Senator Edgardo Angara has filed a bill seeking equal punishment for unfaithful wives and philandering husbands.

The opposition senator said adultery and concubinage are the same since both violate marital vows, and in the process destroy the solidarity of the family.

"The family is the basic and most important unit of society. We must protect it through laws and penalties equal to both men and women," he said.

Angara noted that while adultery and concubinage both violate marriage vows, the Revised Penal Code treats them differently.

He pointed out that Article 33 states that a married woman commits adultery when she engages in sexual intercourse with a man other than her husband.

However, a married man is held liable for concubinage only when he performs three acts specified in Article 33, namely: keeping a mistress in conjugal dwelling; having sexual intercourse under scandalous circumstances with a woman other than his wife; and cohabiting with her in any other place.

Therefore, the crime of concubinage is much difficult to establish, Angara said.

"This in clearly advantageous for the philandering husband. The punishment is also harder for a married woman and rather light for the husband," he said. – Aurea Calica