Gabriela lauds divorce bill approval by House panel

MANILA, Philippines — Women’s group Gabriela party-list has welcomed the approval by a House panel of a bill that may pave the way for absolute divorce in the country.

“The approval of the substitute bill serves as a ray of hope once again for women and victims of domestic abuse, who are still waiting to be given the chance to break free from a toxic and violent relationship,” Rep. Arlene Brosas said.

“As the world celebrates Women’s Month, we, in Gabriela Women’s Party, will continue to support the immediate passage of this bill,” Brosas said as she expressed hope that couples may finally be freed from the hassles of living together amid irreconcilable differences.

The bill, which is opposed by the Catholic Church, has 69 authors.

“With the growing support of women and various advocacy groups, we can advance this measure further and tackle deep-seated societal ills that consistently threaten the institution of marriage,” Brosas said.

Main author and proponent Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay also lauded the development.

“The approval of the substitute bill on absolute divorce for eventual plenary debates is an assurance that the country is now on the threshold of joining the universality of absolute divorce in the community of nations,” Lagman said.

It was the House committee on population and family relations, led by Rep. Ian Paul Dy of Isabela, that gave the go-signal to House members to tackle the bill reinstituting absolute divorce in the Philippines.

“The template of the substitute bill is my House Bill 78, which is almost a replica of the bill approved on third and final reading by the House during the 17th Congress. The approval of the same bill during the 18th Congress was stalled by the pandemic,” Lagman recalled.

“While it is said that marriages are solemnized in heaven, the fact is some marriages plummet into hell because of human frailty and imperfections. The Divorce Act seeks to redeem couples, particularly the abused or abandoned wives, from infernal agony,” he said.

“Divorce is not the worst thing that can happen to a family. Enduring years of physical violence, suffering emotional abuse, tolerating infidelity, allowing children to live in a hostile home and witness daily discord and constant conflict – these are far worse than divorce,” he added.

Lagman, president of the Liberal Party, clarified that the Act is “not for everybody,” but for exceptional circumstances of married couples who are marooned in toxic, dysfunctional and even abusive marriages, particularly for wives who suffer the torment of irreversibly dead marriages.