BY IME SORNITO, MA. THERESA LADIAO and NYARIKA DOMANAIS
ILOILO City – Local opinions vary widely on the Absolute Divorce Act (House Bill 9349) which, on Wednesday night, the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading with 131 votes in favor, 109 against, and 20 abstentions.
The approval is being hailed as a significant victory and pro-divorce advocates express optimism for similar success in the Senate.
Ilonggos sought for comment by Panay News shared their views.
Iloilo Provincial Board member Matt Palabrica, for example, expressed a conflicted stance, acknowledging the societal shifts that necessitate such a law while maintaining his personal reservations due to spiritual beliefs.
“Divorce contradicts my spiritual beliefs, yet I observe that hastily made marital decisions often falter, profoundly affecting all involved. It might be better to part ways to salvage what remains of personal dignity and familial relationships,” Palabrica said.
He, however, expressed skepticism about the bill’s eventual enactment, citing a perceived unpreparedness among Filipinos for such a change.
The bill lists grounds such as physical violence, drug addiction, psychological incapacity, and irreconcilable differences, among others, for divorce.
It also recognizes the existing grounds for legal separation under the Family Code of the Philippines as valid reasons for absolute divorce. These grounds include:
* grossly abusive conduct against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner;
* moral pressure to change religious or political affiliation;
* inducing the petitioner or their children into prostitution;
* imprisonment of the respondent for more than six years;
* drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, or chronic gambling;
* homosexuality of the respondent;
* bigamous marriage by the respondent;
* marital infidelity or having a child with another person;
* attempted violence against the petitioner or their children;
* abandonment without justifiable cause for over a year
Former senator Franklin Drilon admitted to not having reviewed the bill in detail but recognized its potential to expand on current annulment provisions.
“While I haven’t fully examined the proposed grounds for divorce, it’s clear the intent is to build on the existing framework for annulments,” commented Drilon.
Lucy Francisco, regional chairperson of GABRIELA – Panay and Guimaras, has been a long-time advocate for the divorce bill, seeing it as a necessary option for couples in irreparable marriages.
“We’ve been pushing for the divorce bill because there are marital relationships that are beyond repair. This bill is not about encouraging divorce but about providing an option for those trapped in unhappy and dysfunctional marriages,” Francisco explained.
A perspective from the youth came from “Ja”, a 23-year-old child of a single mother, who supports divorce as a basic human right.
“It offers a legal framework to protect abused spouses and children and respects personal decisions to leave a marriage. Everyone deserves the right to move out of an unfulfilling or abusive situation without legal hindrances,” Ja stated.
However, not all responses were in favor. Police Corporal Ferdinand Prudente, married and with children, opposes the bill, viewing it as a threat to the sanctity of marriage vows.
“Marriage is a sacred commitment made before God. Divorce undermines this vow and could deeply impact children, who are often the most affected in these situations,” Prudente explained.
But another police corporal, a single woman and who chose to remain anonymous, supports the bill, arguing that it offers a way out of toxic relationships.
“If you’re not happy with the relationship, if you think it is already toxic, if you think that you have no future in it, then get out,” she said.
Divorce is beneficial to children, too, trapped in the unhappy marriage of their parents, she added.
Atty. Rommel Duron, Iloilo City councilor, offered a nuanced view, suggesting that divorce might be acceptable under certain conditions.
“The legitimacy of divorce should depend on the seriousness of the grounds presented. While it might be necessary in cases of abuse or irreversible breakdowns, we must be wary of it being misused merely as a convenience for those seeking new relationships,” Duron cautioned./PN
