Lagman refiles bill on legalizing divorce

Trying for the nth time to legalize divorce in the country, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman has refiled his proposed measure before the 19th Congress in a bid to free women from a marriage of “physical, emotional and psychological violence.”

“The right of women to live free of physical, emotional and psychological violence is a human right. The right of women not to live in fear is a human right,” Lagman wrote in the explanatory note for House Bill No. 78.

Undaunted by the divorce bill’s long history of rejection in Congress, he said it is “a fact that some marriages break down even with the couples’ resolute and repeated efforts to solve differences and reconcile.”

As pointed out by divorce advocates around the world, the bill mentioned that apart from Vatican City, it is only the Philippines that still considers divorce illegal. Lagman argued that if a couple’s differences become irreparable, “not being able to get out of a loveless, unhappy, even abusive marriage is a human rights concern for women.”

“Critics of the divorce bill must be disabused from the notion that absolute divorce will destroy marriage,” read the measure.

Lagman, principal author of HB 78, stressed that there is no more marriage to protect in such a case and so divorce proceedings must be made available mainly to protect women’s human rights.

“It must be underscored that the institution of absolute divorce is definitely not for couples in harmonious, happy and vibrant marital relationships, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of Filipino marriages,” he said.

Lagman added that divorce is for “the exceptional cases when the martial union is irremediably severed.”

“Marriage still is a human institution that could collapse and wither, because of human imperfections and limitations,” he said.