‘Divorce ban not only costly, but also pits couples’

MANILA, Philippines — The divorce ban in the Philippines does not only lead to exploitations but it is also “tortuously inhumane,” resource persons stressed during the first Senate hearing on divorce-related bills.

Marc Anthony Luna from the Divorce Coalition of the Philippines told the panel led by Sen. Risa Hontiveros that annulment is “one of the milking cows” of lawyers.

“I didn’t pursue it (annulment) because I don’t believe in it. It is being exploited,” Luna, a former overseas Filipino worker, said.

Ana Santos, an independent journalist, said the divorce ban in the country has spawned scammers who take advantage of married couples breaking up.

Santos, who wrote investigative stories on the annulment process for news website Rappler, said there are lawyers—both fake and legitimate—who run away with their clients’ money after consultation as well as courts that manufacture annulment proceedings and decisions.

“They simply copy and paste different scenarios under which marriages break down and they just change the names of the couple involved,” she said.

The so-called “diploma mills” along Recto Avenue in Manila also offer “all sorts of annulment decisions,” she added. 

“There’s a complex web of corruption, forgery and duplicity surrounding this divorce ban and it just compounds the pain and the anguish of those who are heartbroken and just want to legally sever their marriage,” Santos said.

Since there is no divorce in the Philippines, annulment is the only option for Filipino couples who want to break up their marriage. Annulment proceedings cost at least P200,000.

‘Tortuously inhumane’

Santos, who underwent an annulment, said the divorce ban is “tortuously inhumane” as it “not only takes such a long time, not only bleed you of your money but it pits the couple against each other.”

“These are two people who were once married, who once believed they could be in love and they were in love. This is a couple who built their hopes around each other and started a family together but for one reason or another, that didn’t lead to a happy ever after,” she said.

The journalist added: “And they just want a way out of marriage that is humane and that respects the union they once had and that spares the feeling of their children.”

Annulment is a civil procedure in which a judge declares the marital union between a husband and a wife no longer valid.

According to Article 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines, a marriage can be annulled if:

• 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 the 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
• Either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable

“Legalizing divorce is not only a humane thing to do… Legalizing divorce will also make for good governance,” Santos said.

The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic nation, is one of the two countries where divorce is illegal.