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Gabriela renews push for divorce bill; Akbayan to file same-sex wedding bill next Congress
Gabriela party-list said on Tuesday it and other pro-divorce advocates were preparing to reintroduce their divorce bill as soon as Congress resume sessions in July, while Akbayan party-list said it will wait until the 17th Congress to file a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the country.
Gabriela party-list Rep Luzviminda Ilagan said her enthusiasm to push for House Bill 4408 on divorce "Filipino Style” was prompted by the recent pronouncement of Pope Francis that it could be "morally necessary" for some couples to split up.
However, retired Archbishop and head of the National Tribunal Appeals of the Catholic Bishops Conference Oscar Cruz said that what the pope meant was “legal separation” or “conjugal separation” - not divorce and not the right to get married again.
“Ang unang-unang biktima nito (divorce) ay mga bata,” said Cruz. “Hirap na hirap na ako sa kapapayo sa mga bata na ang kanilang magulang ay nagkahiwalay, nag-away. Talagang hindi mo makukuha sa guidance and counseling, may galit na kinikimkim.”
The divorce bill was filed twice before in two different Congresses.
Rep. Ilagan said the continued increase in the number of filed annulment cases in the country prompts her to keep on pushing for the divorce measure.
Data gathered by Ilagan’s office from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) showed that, as of 2011, 10,528 annulment cases were filed before the OSG. In 2001, there were only 4,520 annulment cases filed before the OSG.
Ilagan explained that HB 4408, which will deliberated before the House Committee on Population and Family Relations, was different from the existing divorce laws in Las Vegas and other foreign countries.
Under HB 4408, divorce would be entertained when a partner was subjected to domestic violence, abandoned, or if there was sexual infidelity or perversion.
Divorce could also be filed if the petitioner was separated from his/her partner for five years; the petitioner was legally separated from his or her spouse for at least two years at the time of the filing of the petition; if there was an irreparable breakdown in the marriage; when one or both spouses were psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations; and when the spouses suffer from irreconcilable differences.
Same-sex marriage bill proponent can wait
“Obviously, it’s hard to pursue this bill [on legalizing same-sex marriages] in the 16th Congress and have a comprehensive discussion on it because we only have a year left and there are still a lot of things we need to talk about. But definitely, discussions on legalizing same-sex marriage will be on the agenda in the 17th Congress,” he said.
Gutierrez, a vice chairman of the House committee on revision of laws, said Congress must be open to the idea of allowing same-sex marriages given that Filipino society has grown to be more accepting of LGBTs and their relationships.
“I am inclined to file a bill to start the ball rolling,” Gutierrez said in a press briefing Tuesday. “We have to start discussions— a healthy one— on same-sex marriage,” he said.
Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice expressed his support on starting debates on legalizing same-sex marriages in the Philippines , admitting that “my daughter is also a son.”
