Divorce bill hurdles House

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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Tuesday, March 20, 2018
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MANILA – The House of Representatives passed a bill that seeks to legalize absolute divorce and dissolution of marriage in the Philippines.

House Bill 7303 – “An Act Instituting Absolute Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage in the Philippines” – got 134 affirmative votes, 57 negative votes and two abstentions on Monday night.

Representatives approved the controversial measure despite opposition from no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, who believed that children were at the losing end of divorce.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a Duterte ally, told a news conference on Tuesday that they are ready to defend the bill before the President to avert a possible veto.

“Kami ay handang magpaliwanag sa Pangulo,” Alvarez said. “Iyong concern ng Pangulo, in fact, talagang mahaba ang diskusyon niyan sa committee na siniguro talaga ma-address ang welfare ng bata.”

“Malinaw na malinaw po iyong provision tungkol doon, especially iyong education and support of the children,” he added.

The bill seeks to provide spouses in “irremediably failed marriages” to secure absolute divorce under limited grounds, protect children from the pain and stress resulting from their parents’ marital problems, and grant divorced spouses the right to remarry.

Among the grounds for an absolute divorce include:

* Reasons stated under legal separation and annulment under the Family Code of the Philippines

* Separation in fact for at least five years

* Legal separation by judicial decree for at least two years

* Psychological incapacity

* Gender reassignment surgery

* Irreconcilable differences

* Joint petition of spouses

Moreover the bill provides a mandatory six-month “cooling-off period” – the court will not start the trial for absolute divorce after the filing of the petition for six months for a possibility of reconciliation.

In addition the measure provides for an option for a one-time grant of alimony, option for delivering the presumptive legitimate, or the portion of a parent’s estate which he or she cannot give to the children as inheritance, if the spouses are still living.

Currently the Philippines is the only country in the world other than Vatican City where divorce is illegal./PN
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