House OKs bill declaring church annulments equal to court annulments

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill which seeks to grant a church-annulled marriage the same effect as annulment by a competent court.

Voting 203-0, the chamber approved on Monday House Bill 6779, or "An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of Church Annulment Decrees."

Under the measure, a marriage that was duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or sect in the Philippines and then annulled in accordance with the canons of the church will have the same effect as a decree of annulment, dissolution or declaration of nullity issued by a competent court.

The status of children of marriage under the church annulment decree will be determined in the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines.

If the grounds of the church annulment decree is not the same as any of the grounds provided in the Family Code of the Philippines, their common children born or perceived prior to the church annulment decree will be considered legitimate.

The liquidation, partition and distribution of the property of the spouses, custody and support of the common children, and the delivery of their presumptive legitimes, meanwhile, will be agreed upon by the spouses.

If no agreement is met, the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines will be followed. — BM, GMA News