MANILA – As a counterpart to an already approved bill at the House of Representatives, Sen. Risa Hontiveros recently filed a Senate bill which seeks to introduce divorce in the country.
Hontiveros said Senate Bill 2134, known as the “Divorce Act of 2018,” will be beneficial for women who are often victims of abuse and wanted to break free from their marriages.
“The absence of a divorce law has had disproportionate effects on women who are more often victims of abuse within marriages, and who are forced to remain in joyless and unhealthy unions because of the dearth of legal options.” Hontiveros said.
She added: “Studies have shown that breaking free from such unions and being given a fresh start result in improved health outcomes for women. It is not divorce that creates well-being issues for children, it is bearing witness to the troubled marriages of their parents.”
Under Hontiveros’ bill, grounds for divorce include physical violence and grossly abusive conduct, psychological incapacity of either spouse, irreconcilable marital differences, marital rape, and being separated for at least 5 years.
Parties who will be found by the court to have used his or her force or resorted to fraud to compel the other party to file a petition will be slapped with a P200,000 fine plus a 5-year imprisonment.
Less than a year ago, the House of Representatives have approved on third and final reading its version of the divorce bill, which was authored by former speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
The controversial bill was approved by the congressmen despite the opposition from no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, who believe that it was the children of divorce who will suffer./PN
