VOTING 134-57-2, the House of Representatives on Monday night approved on third and final reading House Bill 7303 or the Absolute Divorce Act of 2018 amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s opposition to it.
In other developments:
• President Rodrigo Duterte is against the proposed divorce law, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte believed approving divorce in the Philippines would be bad for the children of separated couples and spouses seeking legal action against their respective partners.
“The President is against divorce,” Roque told reporters in Camarines Sur.
• Senator JV Ejercito said Monday the Philippines is still 80-percent Catholic and most of its people are against divorce.
“It appears that at this point in time it would be very hard for us to pass the Divorce Bill,” said Ejercito as he aired his support to Duterte’s opposition to the Divorce Bill.
Senators Gringo Honasan, Migz Zubiri and Joel Villanueva are also opposed to divorce.
• Rep. Lito Atienza on Monday welcomed Duterte’s position to the passage of the Divorce Bill.
“We welcome and fully appreciate President Duterte’s stand against the divorce law,” Atienza said.
The President has saved the Filipino family with his strong position against divorce, which has been passed on second reading in the Lower House. We strongly agree with the President that divorce would be very detrimental to mothers and children.
The Divorce Bill’s passage in plenary was historic as this was the first time that the proposed measure reached final plenary approval.
Once enacted, the bill, with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman among its principal authors, will legalize divorce.
The bill declares that while the State continues to protect and preserve marriage as a social institution and as the foundation of the family, it will also give the opportunity to spouses in irremediably failed marriages to secure absolute divorce under limited grounds.
The bill refers to absolute divorce as “the separation between married couples that is total and final where the husband and wife return to their status of being single with the right to contract marriage again.”
The omnibus committee amendments as presented by Lagman were accepted. A notable change among those approved is the inclusion of a section on the prescription of action. Under this new section, a petition for absolute divorce or dissolution of marriage will be filed in the proper court by the interested party or parties within five years of the accrual or cause of action.
Another section added to the bill provides for the finality of the decision or decree. Except for decisions or decrees in summary proceedings, it will immediately be executory barring an appeal to the Court of Appeals.
The bill provides that petitioners seeking divorce are ensured inexpensive and affordable court proceedings in securing an absolute divorce decree.
The bill further states that grounds on the grant of an absolute divorce decree will include grounds for legal separation and annulment of marriage under the Family Code, de facto separation for at least five years, legal separation by judicial decree for at least two years, psychological incapacity, gender reassignment surgery, irreconcilable differences and joint petition of spouses.