The House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved on second reading a bill which seeks civil recognition of all religion’s church-decreed annulment to make it accessible and not expensive to many Filipinos.
House Bill 6779, or “An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of church Annulment Decrees,” was approved in plenary session even as Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez of Leyte and Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, principal authors of the measure, pushed for the enactment of the measure. The bill was endorsed for plenary approval by the House committee on population and family relations led by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones, also an author of the bill.
“Once this bill becomes a law, a declaration of nullity decreed by the church will hold as much weight and have the same effect as a civil annulment. This removes the burden of undergoing the civil annulment process,” Kittilstvedt-Romualdez, vice chairperson of the House committee on government enterprises and privatization, said.
“The good of our children and the good of society hang in the balance with every decision to declare a marriage null and void. In this context, recognizing the civil effects of church annulment decrees will address the need to ensure that those who find themselves in such a difficult marital situation will have the benefit of a more efficient and affordable procedure that can help ease their conscience and may permit them to move on in freedom from a truly irreparable relationship,” added Kittilstvedt-Romualdez, wife of Philippine Constitution Association president and former-Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.
While safeguarding the sanctity of marriage, Kittilstvedt-Romualdez said her measure could be in response to Pope Francis’ decision to simplify the procedures for annulling marriages in the Catholic Church after complaints that its current system is complicated, costly and often unfair.
“In reaching out to couples who show signs of a wounded and troubled love and out of a desire to make the annulment process more efficient, Pope Francis, whose visit to the Philippines three years ago we remember this week, has introduced radical reforms in the annulment process, substantively altering the Church’s annulment laws, for the first time since 1741," Kittilstvedt-Romualdez said.
"While he reaffirmed traditional teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, he streamlined annulment procedures which many considered cumbersome, lengthy, outdated and expensive to make it affordable and accessible to Catholics,” said Kittilstvedt-Romualdez.
Kittilstvedt-Romualdez explained that Pope Francis introduction of a “briefer annulment process that involves the local bishop, and requires only a single judgment, dropping the need for an automatic appeal to a higher tribunal” would be useless if the state will not recognize the church annulment.
Garcia, a deputy speaker, stressed the need for Congress to give civil recognition of church-decreed annulment in all religions because “every single one is entitled to equal protection of the laws.”
Garcia noted that ever since the adoption of the New Civil Code, the State recognizes Muslim divorces or dissolutions of marriages in accordance with Muslim law.
“The breakdown of any marriage—whether Christian, Muslim, or of whatever religion—has very real effects in the lives of the parties thereto, the children who resulted therefrom, and the society of which the family is a basic unit. There is no reason to distinguish among religions, churches and sects because—as far as marriage and the dissolution thereof are concerned—no such substantial distinction exists,” said Garcia said in her separate sponsorship speech prior to the second reading approval of the bill.
“It is time that the dissolution of marriages of other religions, churches and sects—as, for instance, the Catholic majority in the Philippines, from whose Canon Law, ironically, we borrowed the concept of psychological incapacity as a basis for declaration of nullity of marriage under the Family Code—be given equal civil effect,” Garcia added.
HB 6779 provides that whenever a marriage, duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, 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 states the status of children of marriages subject of the Church annulment decree shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order (EO) 209, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.
In the case the ground for Church annulment decree is not similar to any of the grounds provided in the Family Code of the Philippines, their common children born or conceived before the issuance of the Church annulment shall be considered legitimate, according to the bill.
Similarly, the liquidation, partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses, the custody and support of the common children, and the delivery of their presumptive legitimes, shall be agreed upon by the spouses, and embodies in a public document. In case, no agreement is met, the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines shall be in force.
Under the bill, either of the former spouses may marry again after complying with the requirements of the preceding paragraph and Article 52 of EO 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines, otherwise, the subsequent marriage shall be null and void.
In securing a marriage license, 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, the bill provides.