A panel in the House of Representatives has approved a substitute bill which seeks to recognize the civil effects of church-decreed annulment.
The House committee on population and family relations, chaired by Rep. Sol Aragones of Laguna, passed the unnumbered bill with Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez of Leyte as one of the authors.
The approved bill was substituted to House Bill 1629 authored by Reps. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu titled “Legalizing Church Annulment Or Dissolution Of Certain Marriages” and HB 3705 by Romualdez titled “Recognizing The Civil Effects Of Church Declaration Of Nullity, Annulment, And Dissolution Of Marriages.” Aragones is also one of the authors of the substitute bill.
Romualdez said the Family Code of the Philippines recognizes as valid a marriage solemnized under the laws of the Church.
“If marriages so solemnized are recognized by the State, it is only proper that the very church that solemnized the marriage should also have the power to rule that attendant infirmity that rendered a marriage null, and its effects binding on the State. This is also same to all other established churches and religions,” said Romualdez.
The bill, also known as the “Church Decreed Annulment,” provides that whenever a marriage, duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, imam, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or religious sect in the Philippines is subsequently annulled or dissolved in a final judgment or decree in accordance with the canons or precepts of the church or religious sect, the said annulment or dissolution shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment or dissolution issued by a competent court.
The bill provides that the final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution issued by the proper church or religious sect shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry within 30 daysfrom issuance of said final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution.
It also notes either of the former spouses may marry again after complying with the requirements of the preceding paragraph and Article 52 of Executive Order 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines, otherwise, the subsequent marriage shall be null and void.
In securing a marriage license, the bill’s authors said the spouse involved must present a certified true copy of the said final judgment or decree of declaration of nullity, annulment or dissolution of marriage registered with the appropriate civil registry.
At a congressional hearing, Fr. Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that church annulment is no longer a strictly judicial process but can be an administrative decree as contained in a decree that Pope Francis signed three years ago.
The judicial process in the Church annulment annulment has court presence–a canon lawyer who is the judge and there are canon lawyers – one defending the dignity of marriage and the other one defending the rights of the couple to help them in the annulment of their marriage,” Secillano said.
The annulment process of church marriage under an administrative decree is that the couple files for the annulment of their church marriage and submits their case history, he said.
Secillano said the canon lawyers would evaluate the case history of the couple, and if they would find merit on the petition for the annulment, they would submit to the archbishop their finding that there are grounds to annul the marriage. Once the archbishop signs the petition, the church marriage is annulled.
He said the procedure is ongoing and petition for church annulment is filed before the marriage tribunal of the diocese.
Garcia said although marriage is an institution that the State is interested in, it is also a religious act.
“For the predominant Catholics of our country, it is a sacrament and marriage is not considered valid insofar as Catholics are concerned unless celebrated in accordance with the solemnities of the church. Marriage, therefore, is an element in the exercise of religious freedom,” Garcia said.
“So logically, if the marriage, insofar as the contracting parties are concerned, is validated by the laws of the Church, then it necessarily follows that by the same laws, such marriage can also be invalidated or annulled,” she said.
Ever since the adoption of the New Civil Code, Garcia said the state recognizes Muslim divorces or dissolutions of marriages in accordance with Muslim law, said Garcia.
“Under the principle of equality before the law, if Muslim divorces are legalized, there could be no serious objections to recognizing the annulment of a marriage by a church or by any other established and duly recognized religious denomination,” Garcia said.