The House of Representatives’ Committee on Population and Family Relations on Wednesday approved the bill legalizing divorce in the country being a remedy to free couples locked in failed marriages.
This, as Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, member of the committee, moved for the approval of the bill and invoked Rule 10 Section 48 or the one-day hearing only for bills that have been approved on third reading in the previous Congress.
The consolidated bill was approved because the committee invoked the rule.
The Ҭdivorce bills filed in the 18thӬ Congress include were House Bill (HB) 100 authored by Lagman, HB 838 of party-list Reps. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, France Castro of Alliance and Concerned Teachers (ACT), Sarah Elago of Kabataan, Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite of Bayan Muna; and HB 2263 by former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
“[These] should “¨be prioritized and may be disposed of as matters already reported “¨upon the approval of majority of the Members of the committee “¨present, there being a quorum,” said Lagman.
Lagman will head the technical working group to harmonize the final version before sending the measure to the plenary.
In the previous 17th Congress, Alvarez under his leadership as Speaker approved the divorce bill as a way out to “problematic marriages.” But the bill failed to get enacted as senators did not support the bill.
Alvarez said earlier there were persistent calls for the enactment of the marriage dissolution law, which would provide a cheaper and faster alternative to annulment that normally takes years and costs P250,000 and up to finalize.
Deputy Speaker and Citizens Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Eduardo Villanueva opposed the absolute divorce during the hearing, stressing this would only ruin the sanctity of marriage and destroy family relations.
“The passage of a divorce bill is practically unnecessary for two reasons. First, it does not address issues of high cost of litigation and slow-grinding disposition of cases, which are the real problems
encountered by those seeking relief from troubled marriages, particularly poor petitioners. Secondly and more importantly, it is a clear defiance to God and to the Constitution because it will terribly degrade the sacrosanctness of marriage as an inviolable institution,” said Villanueva.
Villanueva is the deputy speaker for good governance and moral uprightness.
“Why pass the divorce bill when it will not really solve the real issues of those wishing to get out of unfortunate wedlock – the high costs of professional fees and the slow disposition cases? The divorce bills filed in Congress simply enumerate and consolidate remedies for broken marriages already existing in our current laws. That is why the divorce bill is unnecessary.
“Worse, it just makes marriage ‘cheap’ because the grounds it qualifies as bases for divorce are shallow and not in favor of the strengthening the families – which is what the Constitution and various jurisprudence of the court decree,” said Villanueva.
But Lagman rejected this claim. He said “divorce will not destroy marriages because there is no more “¨marriage “”¬or “”¬happy “ “¬union “”¬to “ “¬speak “ “¬of “ “¬when “ “¬couples “ “¬reach “ “¬the difficult decision to seek divorce.”
Under the approved divorce version last Congress, it recognized a ground for marriage dissolution or divorce the same grounds for legal separation under the Family Code.
The bill also provided for summary judicial proceedings to expedite the resolution of petition for marriage dissolution/divorce without regard to technical rules. Petitioner has the option to be represented by lawyer or not.
The following grounds may be subjected to summary judicial proceeding: de facto separation for at least five years, bigamous marriage, legal separation for at least two years, imprisonment for six years, gender reassignment surgery, and joint petition of the spouses for the dissolution of their marriage.
However, the substitute bill also provides for a 6-month cooling-off period during which the court shall exercise all efforts to reunite and reconcile the parties.