As the 18th Congress started, the newly elected lawmakers refiled the proposed bill to make the divorce legal. Many of the Representatives are hopeful that the bill will pass in the Senate. One of the supporters of this bill is Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
According to Senator Pimentel, there should be a law that would let couples to part their ways in case of irreconcilable differences. The bill can be the remedy but should be given another name such as the dissolution of marriage.
The senator reiterated that granting divorce must have valid grounds. In the United States, divorce is granted to couples just because they don’t want to live together. This should not be the case in the Philippines, otherwise, it will take a toll to many families.
On July 10, 2019, Senator Risa Hontiveros refiled the divorce bill. She believes that once approved, it will give freedom to couples living in abusive marriages. In the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2018, one in four women is a victim of spousal violence.
According to Hontiveros, pushing the approval of the divorce bill is a way to protect the quality of life and well-being of the people specifically the women. It also gives another chance to women and their children to find a meaningful and true relationship and build happy families.
Cited in the proposed bill the grounds allowed to file for divorce such as the following:
- Psychological incapacity of either the wife or the husband
- Marital rape
- Irreconcilable marital differences
- Being separated for a minimum of five years
Once the bill becomes a law, the process for granting divorce will go a thorough process considering the best interest of both parties. When the divorce bill was filed in January 2019 in the 17th Congress, the support is minimal. Now, there are several senators giving positive response.
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Last March 2018, the House of Representatives approved the divorce bill, which is “An Act Instituting Absolute Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage in the Philippines.”