PROPONENTS of absolute divorce in the House of Representatives on Saturday expressed optimism that the measure will get support from the Senate to enable its future enactment.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said that the bill does not violate the constitutional provision on family protection in the 1987 Constitution.
“In fact, this measure serves as both a reminder and a warning to spouses to stick to their marital vows or their partners will be given the legal option to get out of tumultuous marriage,” Alvarez said.
Opposition and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman echoed Alvarez’s view.
Lagman said absolute divorce provides a “decent and merciful interment for an irremediably dead marriage even as the State protects and preserves vibrant and happy marital relationships.”
He said only spouses in totally broken marriages and those void from the start are entitled to a grant of absolute divorce.
Lagman said in absolute divorce proceedings, there is no more marriage to protect or destroy as it has disintegrated much earlier.
“While the State continues to protect and preserve marriage as a social institution and as the foundation of the family, shattered marriages beyond rehabilitation happen due to human frailties and limitations,” Lagman said.
“When a marriage totally breaks down and reconciliation is nil, it is also the duty of the State to afford relief to the spouses in irreconcilable conflict relations and bail them out and their children from the tempest of incessant discord,” he added.
Under the divorce bill, spouses in dysfunctional or abusive relationships are given the option to file for absolute divorce or secure legal separation, annulment of marriages or nullification of marriage under the provisions of the Family Code which are not repealed.
“The State cannot abandon couples and their children in a house on fire,” Lagman said. “Love, trust, and respect, which are the veritable foundations of marriage and family, are voluntary, mutual and earned, and when they are lost, no amount of compulsion by custom or religion can restore their value,” he added.