Partial divorce bill worries church leaders
The approval of the “partial divorce” bill on third and final reading by the Lower House is getting church leaders worried.
They fear that this measure is a prelude to total divorce which the Catholic Church is opposed to.
House Bill 5907 authored by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (Independent, Cagayan de Oro City), Maximo Rodriguez (Abante Mindanao Party-list), and Magtanggol Gunigundo (Lakas-CMD,
Valenzuela City) which was unanimously endorsed by the House Committee on Revision of Laws allows Filipino spouses to remarry if their original partners are able to win a divorce decree from a foreign court.
The bill seeks to amend Executive Order No. 209 (Family Code of the Philippines).
Section 1 of HB 5907 provides that “in case either of the contracting parties has been previously married, the applicant shall be required to furnish, instead of the birth or baptismal certificate required in the last preceding article, the death certificate of the deceased spouse or the judicial decree of the absolute divorce obtained by the alien spouse duly authenticated by the Philippine consul in the country where the decree was obtained, or the judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of his or her previous marriage.”
The Filipino spouse will no longer seek judicial recognition or enforcement of the foreign judicial decree of absolute decree.
“The proposed amendments provides that a judicial decree of absolute divorce obtained by the alien spouse duly authenticated by the Philippine consul where the decree was obtained may be presented as one of the documentary requirements for the issuance of a marriage license without need for a judicial decree,” the authors pointed out.
Anti-God, immoral “This is a dangerous law which can lead to a full divorce,” Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said in an interview.
“Partial divorce is prelude to total divorce,” Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles added.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) strongly opposed the legalization of divorce law in the country last March saying it will only make a “mockery” of the sanctity of marriage.
The Catholic Church has been opposing the so called DEATH bills namely divorce, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, abortion, and total reproductive health bills.
The Lipa prelate recalled the time when the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, which the church also opposed for being anti-family and anti-life, was passed into law.
“Before the RH bill was forced into becoming a law by bribery of our lawmakers, pro RH proponents claimed that divorce, same sex union, abortion laws, are not related to the RH policy,” Arguelles said.
“Everyone should now understand that the deception is not over. The devil is at work. We are right at the center,” he added.
Such government policies that are being enacted into law, Arguelles said are evil.
“That’s why I fight these because they are anti-God and immoral,” he said.
“Those who pass this law will face the judgment of God,” added Arguelles.
Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, meantime, said that the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage does not change even if some people would advocate change.
“A divorce law will either grant divorce on any ground – in which case marriage becomes a mockery – or on some grounds,” CBCP President Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas noted. (With a report from Ben R. Rosario)