BAGUIO CITY – Many Filipinos are still against divorce, even as a bill seeking to allow divorce in the Philippines goes back to the plenary session of the House of Representatives – a year after the House panel endorsed its enactment – for deliberation and approval, again.
A 2023 Third Quarter Survey conducted by University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research Tugon Ng Masa found out that “51 percent of adult Filipinos are not in favor of passing a law to legalize divorce in the Philippines.”
On the other hand, 41 per cent of adult Filipinos favor legalization of divorce in the country. Nine per cent are undecided. The research reached 1,200 respondents nationwide through face-to-face interviews.
Across major areas in the Philippines, those favoring divorce extended from 38 to 48%, with Mindanao garnering the most support,48%; Metro Manila;46% and, Visayas; 33%.
On the contrary, adult Filipinos opposed to legalization of divorce was highest in Visayas, at 59% and lowest in Metro Manila at 39%. Conjointly, the proportion of adult Filipinos who were undecided was high in Metro Manila at 15%.
Support for divorce law got the highest backing in Mindanao by those aged 18-24 years old, with support ranging from 29 to 42 % by Class D (42%) Filipinos.
On the other hand, those opposed were Filipinos in Class ABC, at 70% and those undecided belonged to Class E at 19%.
Across regions, the percentage of who were in favor of a law for divorce stood from zero to 78%, with Mindanao giving the highest support at 78% and Cagayan Valley registering the least support at zero percent.
Cagayan Valley also registered as the highest opposing legislation to legalize divorce, at 96% and lowest in Mindanao at 14%.
Interestingly, OCTA noted that those in MIMAROPA (Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) exhibited ambivalent views on divorce legalization at 29%
By age, Filipinos aged 18 to 24 gave its highest support to the divorce bill in issue, at 54 % while those aged 75 and above provided the least (8%) support. Those opposed was highest among ages 67 to 74 years old and lowest among ages 18 to 24 years old.
Also Filipinos aged 75 years old and over were the most ambivalent regarding passage of a divorce bill
The OCTA Survey has a plus 3 or minus 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level, with subnational estimates for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao at plus or minus 6 percent margin of error.
On another front, the divorce bill, authored by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said the bill being sent back to the Committee level “is obviously meant to delay the bill’s passage.”
Controversial in the Philippines for decades, any proposal seeking to allow divorce in the country has been met by stiff opposition, particularly by the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. The Roman Catholic Church holds sway over millions of Filipinos.
The Philippines has a Roman Catholic population estimated at 85.7 million Filipinos. OCTA roughly estimates that of this number, 43.7 million Catholics are opposed to legalization of divorce.
The divorce bill or House Bill No., proposed by Lagman and sponsored by 73 lawmakers was approved in House Population and Family Relations in minutes Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
It was approved not because there was no opposition. Rather, after the House panel originally submitted the committee report in September 2023, the rules committee recommitted it or sent it back to the population committee December 2023.
Approving without efforts of amendments, the committee adjourned the hearing just barely 17 minutes after it began on that said Tuesday.
Now, it is back at the plenary session with the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives for deliberation.
Obviously, the recommitment or sending back the bill to the population committee last December was made to further delay or derail enactment of the bill, according to Lagman.
Lagman said the recommitment was made “without courtesy” by consulting and informing him, being principal author and to population committee chair, Rep. Ian Paul Dy of Isabela Third District. He said they were “belatedly informed” of the recommitment.
The divorce bill was referred to the appropriations committee as it was said it did not possess the “appropriations language.”
In objecting to the recommitment of his proposed bill, Lagman countered there is no rule in the House requiring bills without appropriations language to be referred to the committee.
He backed his arguments with examples like the Law Banning Child Marriage, which lacked appropriations language when it was signed into law and the Anti-Teenage Pregnancy Bill, likewise approved with less the appropriations language.
Appropriations can come later, like during the conduct of the plenary, during Senate debates or through the Annual General Appropriations Act, according to Lagman.
Lagman is of the opinion that “millions of Filipino women have been waiting for the enactment of the bill.” On the other hand, millions of Filipino women belonging to conservative groups and the Roman Catholic Church have been blocking it since it was filed in Congress, as proven in the OCTA Survey.
The Philippines is the only country that still bans divorce. The other one is the Vatican, home of Catholic priests, bishops and nuns.
Marriage in the Philippines can be annulled only on the following grounds:
– The party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was 18 years of age or over but below 21 and the marriage was solemnized without consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party;
– Either party was of unsound mind;
– The consent of either party was obtained by fraud;
– The consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence;
– Either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable, and;
– Either party was afflicted with sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.
In House Bill 9349 as proposed by Lagman another members of Congress, the salient factors of the bill include, among others:
-Absolute divorce is not a foreign concept to Filipinos as Filipinos practiced divorce during the pre-Spanish era, American period and Japanese Occupation;
– Except for the Philippines and the tiny ecclesiastical Vatican City-state, all countries world-wide, including all Catholic countries, have legalized divorce in varying degrees of liberality or strictness and no less than Pope Francis has liberalized his stance on divorce and divorcees;
– While the State continues to uphold marriage as a social institution and the foundation of the family, the State has the responsibility of rescuing spouses and their children from a house on fire;
– Children are also the beneficiaries of divorce according to empirical studies in progressive countries because they become more resilient and are freed from the torment and exposure to marital conflicts and discords affecting their well-being;
– Divorce proceedings undergo a judicial process and quickie, notarial, email and drive-through divorces are prohibited;
– In addition to the grounds for dissolution of marriage based on psychological incapacity, annulment of marriage and legal separation, as amended, additional grounds for divorce have been included:
- Separation in fact for at least five years and reconciliation is not anymore possible;
- Legal separation for more than two years;
- Sex reassignment surgery or sex transition;
- Irreconcilable marital difference;
- Other domestic or marital abuse.
The proposed bill states the law on divorce is constitutional, with Congress having the right to enact such law as guaranteed in the 1986 Constitutional Convention.
Divorce is only an option in the proposed bill. Qualified spouses may or may not petition for divorce or they may avail of dissolution of their marriage based on psychological incapacity under Article 36 of the Family Code, annulment of marriage under Article 45 (Family Code) or legal separation, Article 55 (Family Code).
The bill entitled parties the right to remarry and have another chance at marital bliss. Another of its features is that the divorce decree shall guarantee spousal support, children’s support and custody and respect for the children’s legitime, as well as the interest of creditors.
In retrospect, the Philippines grasps for a divorce law when a union of a married couple has completely collapsed and is beyond any repair.