House OKs divorce bill on final reading
The House of Representatives has approved the bill that seeks to legalize divorce in the Philippines on the third and final reading.
House Bill (HB) No. 9349, or the Absolute Divorce Act has passed the final reading in the lower chamber on Wednesday, May 22 in a close vote—with 126 affirmative, 109 negative, and 20 abstentions.
The bill, principally sponsored by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman, seeks to provide spouses in failed marriages with an “alternative mode of dissolution of an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage.”
It also seeks to “save the children from the pain, stress, and agony consequent to their parents’ marital clashes or irreconcilable differences” and allow divorced spouses to marry again.
Under this bill, the following are grounds for absolute divorce:
- legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified;
- annulment of marriage under Article 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified;
- separation of the spouses in fact for at least five years at the time the petition for absolute divorce is filed, and reconciliation is highly improbable;
- psychological incapacity as provided in Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines;
- irreconcilable differences; and
- domestic or marital abuse to include acts under Republic Act 9262, or the Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
Divorce cases are also settled within a year after the mandatory 60-day cooling-off period for reconciliation (except for violent cases), while annulment may take up to four years.
After getting the final approval from the House, the bill will be passed to the Senate and signed by the president to be enacted into law.
In the previous reading, Lagman said it's a "pro-woman" measure since in most cases, it's the wife who is the victim of a failed and toxic marriage. Though there are cases in which the husband is the offended party, he noted that "indelible data would show that wives are the aggrieved victims or parties in most cases of marital conflict."
The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, is the only state outside the Vatican where divorce is illegal.
Lawmakers have filed bills to legalize divorce since 1999 but these were never approved.