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With  Malta’s  divorce  law  enacted  in  July,  the  Philippines  is  now  having  the  world’s  last  legislative  debate  on  divorce.  So  far,  the  recent  renewed  push  to  legalize  divorce  is  not  as  controversial  as  the  Reproductive  Health  (RH)  Bill  —  at  least  not  yet.  But  with  our  nation  being  the  last  one  without  divorce,  the  Catholic  Church  and  other  opponents  of  laws  dissolving  marriage  are  

House  Bill  No.  1799,  or  “An  Act  Introducing  

Rep.  Liza  Maza  of  Gabriela  in  2005,  then  

Ilagan  and  Emerenciana  De  Jesus,  also  for  the  women’s  party-­list  group.  It  would  amend  the  Family  Code  of  the  Philippines,  decreed  in  1987  by  then-­President  Corazon  Aquino,  when  she  temporarily  wielded  legislative  powers.

House  committee  hearings  on  HB  1799  begun  in  June  drew  immediate  protest  

from  the  Catholic  Bishops  Conference  of  the  Philippines.  Former  CBCP  president  and  retired  Lingayen-­Dagupan  Archbishop  Oscar  Cruz  had  warned  that  passing  the  RH  Bill  could  open  the  gates  to  more  contentious  legislation,  such  as  divorce  and  

Back  on  the  front  burner.  Now,  divorce  is  back  on  the  front  burner.  CBCP  legal  counsel  Jo  Imbong  cited  passages  from  the  Constitution  to  argue  that  the  very  idea  of  divorce  violates  Philippine  law.  Opponents  also  maintain  that  legal  separation  and  annulment  already  allowed  by  the  Family  Code,  address  the  problem  of  unhappy  and  failed  marriages.

But  divorce  advocates  insist  those  two  remedies  are  not  enough.  The  grounds  for  annulment  focus  on  events  at  the  time  of  the  wedding,  rather  than  the  marriage  itself.  Legal  separation,  on  the  other  hand,  while  allowing  couples  to  live  apart,  does  

The World’s

By Maria Carmina Olivar

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not  actually  put  an  end  to  the  marriage.  In  effect,  it  maintains  a  marital  status  that  

between  former  spouses.

The  current  Divorce  Bill  would  terminate  marriage,  not  just  separate  couples  or  declare  that  a  marriage  was  null  and  void  from  the  start,  which  seems  to  many  as  a  

also  eliminate  “condonation  of/consent  to  the  act”  of  marital  abuse  as  grounds  for  denying  petitions  for  separation  or  divorce.  The  Divorce  Bill  would  also  better  address  

conjugal  assets  and  spousal  support  for  former  partners  who  are  not  gainfully  employed.

Other  bills  offer  similar  solutions.  Early  this  year  Bayan  Muna  Representative  

HB  3952,  or  “An  Act  

and  Abandonment  as  Presumptive  Psychological  Incapacity  Constituting  a  Ground  for  the  Annulment  of  Marriage.”  Instead  of  instituting  divorce,  Colmenares  

The  Catholic  Church  still  objects  to  HB  3952,  however.

3952,  another  women’s  party-­list  group,  1-­Ako  Babaeng  Astig  Aasenso  (1-­ABAA),  urged  a  10-­year  limit  on  a  marriage  contract’s  validity,  with  an  option  for  renewal,  as  has  been  proposed  in  the  U.S.  Though  1-­ABAA  initially  reported  positive  reactions  to  their  proposal,  the  Church  held  its  ground  and  opposed  it,  and  the  idea  did  not  gain  much  traction  after  the  initial  media  coverage.

Trying  to  make  a  comeback  since  1999.  The  divorce  law  has  been  trying  to  make  a  comeback  here  in  the  Philippines  for  more  than  a  decade  now.  In  1999,  

HB  6993.  Two  years  later  Senator  Rodolfo  Biazon  championed  Senate  Bill  No.  782,  

were  entitled,  “An  Act  Legalizing  Divorce,  Amending  for  the  Purpose  Title  II  and  

Order  No.  227,  Otherwise  Known  as  the  Family  Code  of  the  Philippines.”

women’s  rights  groups  all  up  in  arms  and  ready  to  defend  their  stance.  The  issue  has  half  of  the  public  backing  it,  according  to  an  SWS  survey  earlier  this  year.  But  with  the  RH  Bill  having  stirred  the  Catholic  Church  into  political  action,  opponents  of  divorce  

Archbishop  Giuseppe  Pinto  declared  that  being  the  only  nation  with  no  divorce  law  was    “a  point  of  honor”  for  the  country.

The world’s last divorce debate

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