Lagman wants House to tackle divorce bill

ALBAY 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman moved to refer his bill that would legalize divorce back to the House Committee on Rules and recommended it to be calendared for plenary debate and approval.

House Bill 9349, or “An Act Reinstituting Divorce as an Alternative Mode for the Dissolution of Marriage,” was recommitted by the House Committee on Rules and the House leadership to the Committee on Population and Family Relations without informing Lagman.

That committee, however, referred the bill to the Committee on Appropriations, which Lagman objected to during a plenary session on Monday.

The lawmaker said that only bills with appropriation language should be referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

“The appropriation cover of a bill, if necessary, can be provided for by the Plenary during the period of committee or individual amendments. The Plenary has superior authority than the Committee on Appropriations,” he said.

Lagman believes that the recommitment of the bill to the Committee on Appropriations was meant to delay or derail the enactment of the measure.

He said that the Philippines is the only country that has not legalized divorce, except for Vatican City.

“All Catholic countries have their divorce laws in varying degrees of liberality and strictness, an unmistakable manifestation that divorce does not violate the doctrine of the Catholic Church,” Lagman said.

He said that millions of Filipino women had been waiting for the enactment of the bill, which he described as “pro-woman,” especially for wives who are victims of “toxic and destroyed” marriages due to cruelty, violence and abandonment of their husbands.

“I move that this bill needs no alteration and need not be referred to the Committee on Appropriations. It must be referred to the Committee on Rules with a strong recommendation that House Bill No. 9349 be calendared for plenary debates and approval,” Lagman said.