THE House of Representatives on Wednesday passed on second reading the bill legalizing divorce and dissolution of marriage with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez as the principal author.
Lawmakers voted in favor of the substituted House Bill 7303 through a voice voting after the measure was sponsored in the plenary by Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela party-list, and Deputy Speaker Pia Cayetano of Taguig sponsored the bill last Monday.
Alvarez’s original proposal, as contained in HB 6027, or “An Act Providing for Grounds for the Dissolution of a Marriage,” proposes that a marriage may be dissolved based on irreconcilable differences or severe and “chronic unhappiness” of the spouses which caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
Lagman, also an author to the bill, proposes in his version of the measure that the grounds for absolute divorce are the same grounds for legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines and grounds for annulment of marriage under Article 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines.
The bill contains a provision for summary proceedings of divorce cases filed before a court to allow the aggrieved spouse immediate freedom from a violent marriage.
Aside from domestic violence, psychological incapacity, irreconciliable differences, violence and even transgender surgery are among the grounds that may be cited should a married individual seek separation from the legal spouse and remarry.
The bill is scheduled to get passed on third and final reading next week, as Congress goes on a Holy Week break beginning March 23.