Absolute divorce will become law, Lagman vows

MANILA, Philippines — The absolute divorce bill will be signed into law regardless of former Senate president Vicente Sotto III’s opposition and the May 2025 midterm elections, according to the measure’s principal author, Rep. Edcel Lagman.

“The Absolute Divorce Bill (House Bill 9349) will become a law before former SP Sotto goes back to the Senate,” Lagman said, implying that the Senate would approve it even if Catholic bishops oppose it, and President Marcos would sign the bill before the 20th Congress convenes.

Sotto, a vocal anti-divorce advocate, is seeking to return to the Senate in the May 2025 elections.

If he wins, he would assume office in July 2025.

The 20th Congress will convene in July 2025 and will last until 2028.

The House of Representatives on May 22 approved on third and final reading the absolute divorce bill, voting 131-109 with 20 abstentions.

Section 117, Rule XVI of the House rules states: “An abstention shall not be counted as a vote. Unless otherwise provided by the Constitution or by these rules, a majority of those voting, there being a quorum, shall decide the issue.”

Sotto criticized the final vote count after the House leadership erroneously reported 126 affirmative votes, later correcting it to 131.

He argued that the bill lost in the plenary as the final count did not reach the majority of the quorum.

Abstentions are not counted, Lagman maintained.

“Whether the winning margin is 126 to 109 as initially reported or 131 to 109 as later corrected by the Office of the Secretary General does not affect the ultimate legality of the final approval of the divorce bill,” he said.

“Engrossed copy of the divorce bill must be transmitted without further delay to the Senate,” he stressed.