CJ aspirant Legarda: It's time to have divorce in the Philippines

Lawyer Katrina Legarda on Tuesday told the Judicial and Bar Council that the Philippines should have a law on divorce, considering that 50 percent of marriages end up in the courts.

 

Legarda, one of the six aspirants to the chief justice position interviewed by the JBC, noted that out of thousands of petitions before the Supreme Court seeking to nullify marriages only seven have so far been rendered a decision.

 

“It is time for us to have a divorce law,” said Legarda, 57, the chief legal counsel of state-run Government Service Insurance System. "I do not understand the resistance to divorce other than the Catholic Church does not wish it to be passed," Legarda said during her panel interview broadcast live on national television.

 

“It may be passed in a limited sense. As human beings, people make mistakes. People are coming to family lawyers after six months of marriage.  I wonder looking at these young people, what is the life ahead of them if they are not given a second chance,” she said.

 

On the RH Bill

 

On the controversial Reproductive Health Bill, Legarda said the use contraceptives or condoms may prevent conception and it does not violate the constitutional provision that protects the right of an unborn child, because the fertilized ovum has not been implanted with a sperm.

 

She said sex education, which is also contained in the RH bill, should be institutionalized. 

 

“Many young children think they will not get pregnant the first time. Many people do not understand what the act of sex is… Without the guidance of parents, the school should provide sex education,” she said.

 

Legarda cited a recent study which showed that nine in 10 children have seen pornography on the Internet, while teenage pregnancy rate in the country was a notch below that of the United Kingdom’s.

 

On the Corona impeachment

 

The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Coronal last May 29 infringed upon judiciary independence, according to the GSIS lawyer.

 

“Yes to a certain extent [it has infringed upon judicial independence]. I felt that the grounds were not really impeachable offenses,” she said.

 

The Senate impeachment court found Corona guilty of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution after failing to faithfully declare the extent of his wealth in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. 

 

Asked how she would want to be remembered as a chief justice, Legarda said, “Someone who has always been fair.”

 

On the second day of the JBC interviews Wednesday, two Supreme Court Associate Justices Arturo Brion and Roberto Abad will be interviewed, as well as lawyer Rafael Morales, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law Raul Pangalangan, Commissioner Rene Sarmiento of the Commission on Elections, and retired Judge Manuel Siayngco Jr.

 

The panel interviews are scheduled until Friday. — VS, GMA News