WATCH: Tricia Centenera on legalizing divorce in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — As a divorcee from former husband Gab Valenciano, TV host Tricia Centenera approves of passing the Divorce Bill in the Philippines.
“I do believing in legalizing divorce. Gab and I didn’t get married here so we were able to get divorce, which was easy. But other men and women out there, there are people I know who got married, it wasn’t the right person,” she said in a recent interview following an Avon Intimate Apparel fashion show.
“I think to myself, ‘How frustrating to be tied to this person… especially when they find the ‘one,’ the one person who’s a better fit.”
Last March 19, in a vote of 134-57, the lower house of Congress approved on third and final reading House Bill 7303 or "An Act Instituting Absolute Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage in the Philippines."
For Tricia, annulment is not enough.
“The whole annulment thing. I know some couples who have been married for 30, 40 years and they have children and there are too many indifferences. And they don’t want to be together anymore. But annulling it, does it mean that they were never married for those 30 years and those children are illegitimate or bastard children? So I think having an annulment, versus having been able to have a divorce, a divorce is a much kinder way of parting ways.”
She, however, disapproves of making divorce that accessible.
“I also don’t believe in just being able to get a divorce straightway left and right. In Australia, you still go through counseling. You still have a therapist, a psychiatrist, a marriage counselor. He or she must say, ‘Yes, they are not fit to be married.’ And you have to be legally separated for 12 months. So, it’s still a process.”
Looking back at her own divorce, she said she would still prefer it over annulment.
“If I was to get an annulment with Gab, it would be sad. Because we really did love each other for those two years and we don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen because it made us who we are. It’s part of who I am. So, to turn around and say that it didn’t happen, it’s kind of sad.” — Videos by Kat Leandicho
Related video: Tricia gives advice to fellow divorcees
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