MANILA – The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a proposed measure for absolute divorce on Wednesday evening.
The Absolute Divorce Act (House Bill 9349) garnered 131 affirmative votes, 109 negative votes, and 20 abstentions, based on the official data released by the House on Thursday.
Albay’s Cong. Edcel Lagman, the principal author and sponsor of the measure, expressed elation with the development, saying “any victory whether slim or not is still a victory.”
“This is a resounding victory for the absolute divorce bill and we hope the counterpart in the Senate, ripe for plenary deliberation a long time ago, will also be tackled and approved so that we could meet in a conference committee,” Lagman said.
“I think it would be an easy (bicameral) conference (meeting) because the House version and the Senate version have very few dissimilarities,” he added.
Among the grounds for divorce cited in the bill are physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child or the child of the petitioner; physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious or political affiliation; drug addiction or habitual alcoholism or chronic gambling; and homosexuality.
The proposal tasked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as the lead agency, together with the Department of Justice, the Philippine Commission on Women, and the National Youth Commission, in consultation with at least two women’s organizations and two representatives from two children’s organizations to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations within 60 days from the effectivity of the measure./PN
