House committee approval of divorce bill saddens local Church officials

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma was disappointed on the approval of the proposed divorce bill by the committee on population and family relations of the House of Representatives.

“This is the time that we have feared the most,” Palma said in an ABS-CBN report.

Palma has urged members of Congress to reflect and think twice on the proposed bill because the Constitution protects the sanctity of marriage.

Rev. Father Eligio Suico, chairperson of the Commission on Family and Life Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Cebu, also lamented passage of the bill at the committee level.

Suico reiterated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the proposed measure believing it will not help achieve the individuals’ quest for happiness.

“We are a bit alarmed and sad … We should stand always behind the beauty of conjugal love which is faithful, exclusive, fruitful and lasting in nature,” he said in a text message to The FREEMAN.

Suico said approving the bill may only create more troubles as it would result to insecurity among couples.

“(Just) for the simple reason that one is no longer certain about the stability of their love for one another? It leads to suspicions and so it won't help,” he added.

The proposed bill was approved at the committee level last Wednesday. The bill seeks to make legal separation cheaper and faster.

From estimated cost of P250,000, qualified “indigent” couples may have the litigation and fees waived.

The bill has presented grounds for divorce, which are similar to that of legal separation like repeated physical violence, a pressure to change religious or political affiliation, final judgment sentencing one to imprisonment for more than six years, drug addiction or alcoholism, homosexuality, sexual infidelity, or abandonment without justifiable cause. All of which are stated under Title II of the Family Code of the Philippines.

Four new grounds for divorce are introduced by this new bill — psychological incapacity, sex change, irreconcilable marital differences and separation for at least five years at the time the petition is filed.

The bill aims to “save the children from pain, stress and agony consequent to their parents' constant marital clashes” and “grant the divorced spouses the right to marry again for another chance at marital bliss.”

At present, annulment or proving that the marriage is void is the only means to end a marriage contract in the Philippines, a dominantly Christian country.

Senator Risa Hontiveros who was in Cebu yesterday, anticipates the issue to spark “public discussion.”

“Ang nakikita kung value diyan is it will spur a formal official public conversation about divorce especially the core subjects of child support,” she said.

She said she has yet to read the bill but explained that for it to be approved by the House, it must include protection of the rights for women.

“If we want a harmonious society it has to begin with harmonious families given the different forms and situations of different Filipino families today, what should be our proper position on the question of divorce,” she said.

Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said she is open to the possibility of passing a divorce bill.

“For as long as dili dehado kaayo ang mga kababayenhan. If it is as easy as saying nga ‘Sorry, I have found another one, then no (I am not for the divorce bill),” she said.