Divorce bill ‘unconstitutional’
Thursday, June 2, 2011
MANILA — The proposed measure seeking the legalization of divorce in the country may not be approved after several lawmakers expressed their opposition during a House committee hearing Wednesday.
Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez said House Bill 1799 filed by Gabriela Representatives Emmi de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan is against the spirit and text of the 1987 Constitution.
Rodriguez cited Article 15, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states: “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.”
“It will not be enacted because couples will surely have differing views,” Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Fariñas quipped.
“If there is a need for a divorce, the Constitution has to be amended first,” he added.
Independent pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS), however, showed Wednesday that public support for divorce for separated couples vastly improved over the past six years.
The non-commission survey of SWS, conducted between March 4 and 7, revealed that one in two Filipinos are now backing the measure.
amon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Economic Reform, told Sun.Star that divorce is not yet a mature issue, thus there is possibility that the figures may change.
The Philippines looms to be the lone country without a divorce after residents of tiny European state Malta voted to legalize the controversial measure strongly opposed by the Catholic Church.
The divorce bill in the country will have to be approved at the House committee on revision of laws before members of the House of Representatives debate on it in the plenary.
The legislation has been filed since the 13th Congress by then-Gabriela congresswoman Liza Maza.
But lawyer Jo Imbong, legal counsel of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), asserted that divorce is against the Constitution.
The absence of an absolute divorce in the country has actually kept marriages together, he said.
“How many divorces can one have? How many spouses can one abandon? Divorce begets divorce. Is it correct to claim that absolute divorce is the last resort?” Imbong said.
Pro-marriage bill
Imbong also decried why members of Congress propose legislation that would nullify marriage, but no measures have been proposed to strengthen marriages.
Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, meanwhile, said the Filipinos cannot continue to oppose the divorce law simply because they are allergic to the term “divorce”.
She pointed out that the possible existence of a divorce law in the country will not be a reason for a failed marriage since several factors, including forced migration and poverty, have caused the separation of most couples.
“No prohibition on divorce will stop failed marriages; failed marriages happen every day…Our duty to our people is to give remedies that respect their religious views. Whether they are Catholic or not, they should have a choice,” Ursua added.
Ilagan urged her colleagues to pass a measure, which could give couples in abusive and irreparable marriages the option of divorce.
3 remedies
The Family Code that governs marriage and family relations in our country provides three remedies to marriages.
These are declaration of nullity, annulment and legal separation.
House Bill 1799 introduces another remedy, the remedy of divorce.
The authors of the divorce bill said their proposal is not modeled after divorce systems of other countries, calling it “divorce, Filipino- style.”
Under the measure, couples who may apply for divorce should have been separated for five years and those already legally separated for two years. (Kathrina Alvarez/With Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/06/02/divorce-bill-unconstitutional-158847
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