Divorce in this country is like reproductive health: it’s available, but only to the rich. The Reproductive Health Law was finally passed way back in 2012, but it languished in judicial limbo, and millions of poor Filipino women are still waiting for its full implementation.
Lawmakers who feared a Church backlash at the polls for supporting the RH Law found out that their fears were baseless. This realization surely played a role in the passage of the divorce bill by an overwhelming number of congressmen the other day.
Undoubtedly, political will helped, even if powered by personal interest; Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has made no secret of his desire to get out of his broken marriage and take his affair with his new inamorata to the next level. A number of his colleagues may also have personal reasons for supporting divorce. Alvarez had once asked aloud: who doesn’t have a girlfriend?
Congressmen who want to end their marriage can avail themselves of legal separation or, like President Duterte, of annulment. The divorce bill simply makes the process simpler and accessible even to the poor. These are among the main reasons why women’s groups are among the active supporters of the proposed law.
Senators, some of whom have experienced personal hell in failed marriages, may understand why the legal exit available to them should also be accessible to all, regardless of one’s station in life. Victims of domestic violence and other forms of abuse, which are still common nationwide, particularly need that way out, and a second chance at love and life.
The argument that divorce promotes promiscuity is laughable, especially when propounded by known serial philanderers in government. This is a country where presidents and other public officials flaunt trophy mistresses in public and brag about maintaining several families. The prospect of paying alimony to ex-wives and being forced to carry on affairs only one at a time have been among the hindrances to lawmakers’ approval of a divorce law.
Opponents are also invoking constitutional provisions safeguarding the family and child. But a household where the love has gone, where the father openly cheats on his wife or, worse, regularly subjects her to physical, verbal and psychological abuse, inflicts irreparable damage on both mother and child. This is not a family home but a living hell. Victims, whether rich or poor, deserve a way out.