Marriage dissolution bill unconstitutional – lawmaker

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s bill on the dissolution of marriage will violate the Constitution, Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay warned yesterday.

“The Speaker’s Bill 6027 is unconstitutional. Our Constitution defends the family and defines marriage as an inviolable institution that should be protected and enhanced, not dissolved. If the bill is passed into law, marriages can be dissolved faster than picking up your order at the ‘drive-through,’” Atienza said.

“It’s like you get married today and see a judge tomorrow to tell him you have agreed to call it quits. That’s it! It’s instant divorce,” he added.

Atienza also noted that under the Alvarez bill, an agreement between spouses to terminate their union is a ground for dissolution of marriage.

He pointed out that the Con- stitution mandates the state to “recognize the sanctity of family and to protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.”

“The Charter also provides that marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the state,” he stressed.

Atienza vowed to fight the measure at the committee level, “and if needed, even all the way to the Supreme Court.”

He urged his Catholic colleagues and all those who believe in marriage and family to join him.

Atienza also asked Alvarez to allow free debates.

“Let us debate this on the floor. Please do not railroad it or we will go all the way to the Supreme Court. Instead of a law on the dissolution of marriage, let’s have more laws to strengthen marriage as an institution,” he said.