Palace: People can push for divorce law

MANILA, Philippines - The Cabinet has not tackled the issue of divorce but the people could push for its legislation if there was a clamor for it, Malacañang said yesterday.

“The people have the power to make known to their representatives in Congress their sentiments on the issue of divorce,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

Coloma was responding to a question regarding the results of a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), which revealed that three out of five Filipinos wanted divorce to be legalized for “irreconcilably separated” couples.

Based on the survey conducted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 last year, 60 percent of 1,800 respondents agreed that “married couples who have already separated and cannot reconcile anymore should be allowed to divorce so that they can get legally married again,” while 29 percent disagreed and 11 percent were undecided on the issue.

But retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said the Catholic Church would never concede, even if the survey shows 99 percent of Filipinos are in favor of divorce.

“If it is wrong, it is wrong. God made man and woman in order to be together,” said Rosales, noting that there are instances when surveys tend to be subjective.

Rosales said there are alternative ways other than divorce for married couples who could not reconcile their differences, such as annulment or legal separation.

‘Filipinos ready’

Sen. Pia Cayetano said the recent SWS survey is a clear indication that the people are now ready to have divorce as an option for couples having trouble in their relationship.

“There is nothing to be proud about when we say we’re the only country in the world that still does not have divorce. It doesn’t say anything for us. What does it mean? That we are self-suffering? That we allow women, or men for that matter, to stay in horrible relationships and possibly not even be good parents to their children simply because our law does not recognize that they should live separate lives?” she said.

Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on women, family relations and gender equality, noted that no bill from the Senate specifically pushing for a divorce law in the country has been filed so far.

What the committee has received were bills expanding legal separation or the definition of annulment, which Cayetano said she could use as a jump-off point to discuss the proposals on divorce.

Cayetano said that she considers the absence of a divorce law in the country as being a “discriminatory practice because many women are forced to stay in a marriage that is harmful to them, either physically or emotionally.”

“The survey shows that the Filipinos are ready. The question is: Are the congressmen and women ready to have the debate and to make a decision on it?” she said.

Gabriela party-list Reps. Emmerenciana de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan, authors of House Bill 4408 that seeks to legalize divorce, said the poll was a boost to their cause.

“Filipinos are now openly articulating a long-felt need to have another remedy, aside from annulment and legal separation, to problematic marriages,” De Jesus said. – With Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan