Divorce bill triggers an uproar in the Philippines

Maricon Reazo was 20, when she eloped with her lover Ninoy who was then only 17.
Ninoy, she said , was a young man with “brains and had only one more year in college before graduating.”
Eventually the two got married in 1984 in a church complete with an entourage and a reception with a roasted cow.
But after two years Ninoy changed. He became an alcoholic. Later he became addicted to drugs.
Like other married women, Reazo hoped that Ninoy would change.
“I wanted to save our marriage because we have a son and we already have our own house. I dreamed of a better family life in the future so I endured all his beatings, thinking that he would change.”
It didn’t happen and she fled from her hometown of Abra to Manila full of bruises and contusions.
Despite the separation for more than a decade and the abuse, Reazo now 46 remains chained to her past.
Under Filipino law, she cannot divorce Ninoy and remains on paper his wife.
Reazo’s story is representative of stories of many young Filipino women trapped in marriages because divorce in the Philippines is illegal reports Bulatlat.com.
Malta is the only other country in the world where divorce is also illegal.
This month a bill proposing the legalization of divorce was re-filed in the Philippines House of Representatives by two congresswomen, Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana De Jesus, both members of the feminist Gabriela Women’s Party.
“Reality tells us that there are many failed, unhappy marriages across all Filipino classes,” wrote the two congresswomen in the bill’s explanatory note.
“Couples must have the option to avail of the remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self-fulfillment and have protection of their human rights. Existing laws are not enough to guarantee and protect these rights,” they said.
The reintroduction of the controversial bill has legislators divided, but media reports say most members of the House of Representatives oppose the bill, saying the existing remedies to troubled marriages of legal separation, declaration of nullity, and annulment, are adequate to both allow marital issues to be resolved and to preserve the sanctity of marriage and the family.
Unable to shy away from the debate on the divorce bill, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III recently declared that he is also against divorce but is for legal separation with the option to remarry, which some sectors say is tantamount to divorce.
In the Philippines, which has a predominantly conservative Roman Catholic population, divorce is frowned at in public, although a lot of married couples have been living separately. Couples from wealthy families travel abroad to get divorced and to remarry.
The Catholic Church led by Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma of Cagyan de Oro City has strongly criticized the proposed bill saying that the move would destroy the moral fiber of Philippine society.
“Legalizing something that is immoral will not make it right, but will instead make it worse,” said Archbishop Ledesma. “The sacrament of marriage is something that is meant for a life-long commitment, for the good of the children and the community. It is no longer just an individual kind of freedom because marriage itself is a social contract.”
Archbishop Ledesma clarified that in Catholic sacramental marriage the couple who commit to each other “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, ‘til death do us part,” set aside personal freedom for the good of their spouse, as well as for the good of their children and society.
Other politicians have also stepped up to chastise the bill.
The representative for Parañaque, Roilo Golez told GMA News that legalizing divorce is like giving a married couple a weapon of mass destruction that they can use against each other even for petty, solvable marital problems.
“Look at what’s happening in other countries with divorce. Half of my classmates at Annapolis ended up divorcing a few years after they got married, many because of flimsy reasons by their own admission,” he said.
“We must continue to work for the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and the family. Legalizing divorce might encourage or promote destruction of families,” said Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga reasoned that the family is the foundation of society and that divorce would weaken the family.
But Reazo the proposed law would help solve a huge problem.
If there is a divorce law, she would immediately divorce her ex-husband to make her current partner her lawful husband.
“For all parties concerned, nothing good could emanate from a marriage where there is no longer respect, love and affection between spouses. Most often, where marriage has taken a turn for the worse, it is the woman who suffers the brunt of it,” Jovita Montes, health services director of Gabriela, told Bulatlat.
“The absence of a law on divorce is a crucible that will help us move forward from the lowest global ranking on this matter, as globally the Philippines remains as one of just two countries that has no divorce law yet,” Ilagan said in a statement.
Between January and May this year, 204 of the 294 cases of violence against women (VAW) reported to Gabriela were cases of domestic violence, Montes said. She said that aside from emotional abandonment, many of these women complained of financial neglect as they are left on their own to eke out a living for the whole family.
The Philippines is a conservative country that thinks a divorce law will only create more broken families because a couple with problems could easily opt for divorce. Some believe that if the divorce bill is passed it will make a mockery of marriage.
Rep. De Jesus, one of the Bill proponents stressed that in other Catholic countries like Spain and Italy where a divorce law is in force, it did not necessarily resulted in an increase in divorce cases filed in court.