Palace: Up to Congress to review laws following simplified rules on annulment

Malacañang on Wednesday said it respects the reforms introduced by Pope Francis to make the process of annulment easier, quicker and free, adding it is up to Congress to review current laws.

 

“Ginagalang naming ang pananaw ng Santo Papa,” Communications Secretary Hermino Coloma Jr. said in a text message.

 

Coloma said it is now up to Congress to review existing laws on annulment, which is provided for under the Family Code of the Philippines.

 

“Nasa pagpasya ng lehislatura ang pagsuri sa mga batas kung kailangang baguhin,” he said.

 

Being the only country that has no divorce law aside from the Vatican City, the only way to legally end a marriage in the Philippines is through the expensive process of annulment.

 

The number of annulments and nullity cases has been on the rise over the last 10 years according to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). In 2002, there were only 5,250 cases. This number doubled to 10,528 in 2012 or an average of 28 a day.

 

Annulments could cost more than P100,000, lawyers say, and would take three months or two to five years depending on the place where the case is filed.
 

In a letter to believers, the Argentinian pontiff said annulments would require approval by only one church tribunal, rather than two as currently. A streamlined procedure is to be introduced for the most straightforward cases and access to hearings will not cost anything, the letter states.

 

An annulment, formally known as a "decree of nullity," is a ruling that a marriage was not valid according to Church law because certain prerequisites, such as free will, psychological maturity and openness to having children, were lacking.

 

Pope Francis said the procedures needed to be speeded up so that Catholics who sought annulments should not be "long oppressed by darkness of doubt" over whether they could have their marriages declared null and void.

 

Most annulments are granted at a local level and only the most complicated cases reach a special court at the Vatican, known as the Rota.

Pope Francis said the procedures, which can cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, should be free. —KG, GMA News