Over 150,000 Cebu Catholics sign vs divorce

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 157,840 people from the Archdiocese of Cebu have signed up against the proposed divorce bill.

Fr. Carmelo Diola, core committee member of the “Yes to Marriage, Yes to Family, No to Divorce” campaign, handed over the signatures to the Senate, which is yet to tackle the proposed measure.

“The signatures are not mere ink on paper but the heartbeats of a community that believes in the transformative power of the family,” the Archdiocese said in a post on Facebook.

Yesterday, thousands braved the rains during a rally to signify their opposition to divorce in the country.

In the same Facebook page, former Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. was quoted as saying in his prayer rally message that the stand against divorce is a “great crusade against all and any move to destroy, demonize and make mockery of the inviolable institution of marriage, sanctity of family and our nation founded on family. Let us continue this crusade until absolute divorce is buried forever.”

Ahead of the signature campaign, Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones said “instead of being insecure and ashamed, we should raise our head as Christians.”

“In the Philippines, we can be the last bastion of hope, that we are crazy enough to believe not only in idealism but in the Gospel value of love that never gives up,” Billones said, referring to the Philippines being one of two states, after the Vatican, that does not enforce divorce.

“Isn’t that a beautiful reason to go on and give love more chances?” Billones added.

House Bill 9349 or the Absolute Divorce Bill was approved by the House of Representatives a month before Congress ended its second regular session.