Divorce bill faces Senate hump

The divorce bill might have easy sailing in the House as predicted by Speaker Manuel Villar, but it will definitely pass through the proverbial eye of the needle before it could be approved by the Senate.

Senate President Blas Ople and Senate Majority Leader Franklin Drilon both opposed the measure, giving it very little chance of passage.

"I don't think it will pass the Senate. Most of the senators are strongly Catholic," Ople said.

Drilon said he would personally vote against the measure. He added that as long as he is the majority floor leader, the divorce measure would not get any priority in the Senate's calendar of business.

Senators John Osmeña and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the other hand, both favored divorce.

Osmeña, who divorced his wife in Las Vegas in 1978, said it is not right to force a married couple to stay together.

Santiago said that in her experience as former regional trial court judge, she has accepted that there are legitimate cases where love between the parties dies.

She said, however, that grounds for divorce should be very strict, unlike those in California where irreconcilable difference between spouses is accepted as valid ground.

The Catholic Church has been lobbying against the bill authored by La Union Rep. Manuel Ortega.