Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Sunday took a swipe at a Catholic lay ecclesial movement for rejecting divorce amid reports that the group is willing to mount a people’s initiative campaign to block this measure.
“Let us stop the religious hypocrisy being spread by the ‘Couples for Christ’ (CFC) that because of human weakness the Philippines must not enact a divorce law, but instead mend broken marriages,” he said in a statement.
“It is precisely because of human frailties, like marital abuse, infidelity and abandonment, among other mortal weaknesses, that marriages are totally destroyed beyond repair,” the lawmaker stressed.
Lagman underscored the relevance of what Pope Francis wrote in footnote 351 of Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) that “the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak,” in considering giving the sacrament of communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.
He maintained that the sanctity of marriage does not institute an iron-clad union, which fetters and imperils the humanity of spouses.
“Verily, absolute divorce rescues spouses, who are embattled because of their human weaknesses and their suffering children from a house on fire,” said Lagman.
“Divorce affords offended spouses, mostly the battered and tormented wives, to regain their freedom, self-esteem, agency, and happiness even as there is a judicial decree on the care, custody, and support of the children,” he added.
Lagman is the principal author and sponsor of the Absolute Divorce Bill (House Bill 9349), which was already passed by the House of Representatives last May.
