EDITORIAL — Give people the option to leave a broken marriage

Like the death penalty, the issue on divorce is something that causes division among many Filipinos. And for the nth time lawmakers are trying to get the proposed divorce bill signed into law.

This time it might just make it considering how many Filipinos have changed their attitude towards divorce throughout the years.

While we are for making marriage work at any means possible, why not give people the option to leave a marriage that is beyond fixing or beyond hope?

For those lawmakers or anyone else who oppose divorce saying that they have a happy marriage or those religious groups who also oppose because it goes against their religious beliefs --or the religious beliefs that they want to impose upon others-- they have to realize that it’s not about them.

It’s not about them.

This is about those who are suffering from an abusive partner, or those who no longer see a way forward in their marriage, or those who are no longer happy with each other. They have to consider that other people may not have the happy marriage that they do, or share the same religious beliefs that they have or want to impose on others.

We really don’t see a flood of filings for divorce if this bill sees the light of day, primarily because most of Filipinos are Catholics and staunchly hold on to their beliefs. They will do all they can to save their marriage first upon the advice of their priest, their friends, relatives, and their family. This is also because divorce carries with it a certain stigma that really shouldn’t be there.

Life takes strange twists and turns, and so does marriage. Both are usually never the fairy tales we imagined as children. People change, attitudes change, values change.

While we say everything should be done to save a marriage, this option to end a marriage should be made available to couples that have irreconcilable differences or spouses who can no longer handle the abuse of the other.