MANILA, Philippines — A committee in the House of Representatives approved in principle yesterday the Marriage Dissolution Bill, a measure equivalent to divorce in other countries.
House Bill 100, principally authored by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman, was shelved in April 2018 and refiled in July 2019 under the 18th Congress.
Speaking before the House committee on population and family relations, Lagman said the proposed measure is a consolidated version of three divorce bills.
Prior to its refiling, the House in the 17th Congress (July 2016-June 2019) voted to pass the bill endorsed by then-speaker Pantaleon Alvarez through a vote of 134-57-2.
“It is safe to say that a divorce bill has been approved by the panel subject to consolidation by a TWG (technical working group), which will meet on Feb. 12 (this year),” Lagman said.
His colleagues in the TWG are Reps. Arlene Brosas of women’s group Gabriela; Ma. Victoria Umali of A-Teacher party-list; Juliet Marie Ferrer of Negros Occidental, and Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba of Bukidnon.
“These (bills) should be prioritized and may be disposed of as matters already reported, upon the approval of majority of the members of the committee present, there being a quorum,” the congressman said.
Alvarez, who still represents the first congressional district of Davao del Norte, said the Philippines and Vatican City – where Pope Francis and his fellow celibate cardinals reside – are the only places around the globe that do not have any law on divorce.
“Dalawa na lang po tayo, ang Pilipinas at ang Vatican ang walang divorce law sa buong mundo,” he said.
Since none among the cardinals and priests in the Vatican are even married, Alvarez said: “So, we’re the only ones (without a divorce law) to be precise.”
The Philippines, the only Christian nation in Asia, has 85 percent of its 105 million population counted as Catholics. In contrast, Vatican City only has a population of 801 based on 2018 statistics.
But Deputy Speaker Eddie Villanueva, of Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list, objected to the approval of Lagman’s bill.
“The passage of a divorce bill is practically unnecessary. First, it does not address issues of high cost of litigation and slow-grinding disposition of cases, which are the real problems encountered by those seeking relief from troubled marriages,” he said.
“Second and more importantly, it is a clear defiance to God and to the Constitution because it will terribly degrade the sacrosanctness of marriage as an inviolable institution,” he said.
Villanueva, an evangelist and head of the Jesus is Lord Movement, insisted that state-sanctioned divorce would only ruin the sanctity of marriage and destroy families.
“The divorce bills filed in Congress simply enumerate and consolidate remedies for broken marriages already existing in our current laws. That is why the divorce bill is unnecessary,” he said.
Lagman countered: “Divorce will not destroy marriages because there is no more marriage or happy union to speak of when couples reach the difficult decision to seek divorce.”