Connection Between Divorce and Religion

Divorce makes everyone involved agonized, that means if divorce papers were given unexpectedly and poorly decided it will extremely affect everyone in the family, including the children, parents on both sides, siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews and especially the couple. Deciding whether to accept the divorce or not is still a very difficult decision to make. In the Philippines, divorce is not legalized mainly because of religion. We were colonized by the Spaniards for 333 years, during their conquest they introduced us to Catholicism.

Using religion to manipulate the Filipinos. It has greatly impacted us even up to this day. Given that the Philippines has of more than 86% of the population in Roman Catholic, the church has a say to every law regarding morality that defies the law of the church.

Legalizing divorce means breaking the natural law for the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, one more reason is that the current president of the Philippines, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and the upper house does not support the legalization of divorce.

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Despite that, the lower house still endorsed the final version of bill 7303 otherwise known as the Absolute Divorce Act of 2018. The current divorce law has come a long way, introducing divorce in the Philippines with House Bill No. 1799 otherwise known as Divorce Bill. Though the late bill does not cover the nullity and annulment of marriage. According to the Explanatory Note attached "The present laws relating to separation of couples and termination of marriage are inadequate to respond to the myriad causes of failed marriages.

Particularly, the remedies of the declaration of nullity and annulment do not cover the problems that occur during the existence of marriage.

Legal separation, on the other hand, while covering problems during a marriage, does not put an end to a marriage. This bill will allow individuals to be free of their unhappy and most are abusive marriages and this bill will also give guidelines for settling concerns as well as the custody of the children if there is any ". The current bill defines absolute divorce in the SEC. 4 as “the separation between married couples that is total and final where the husband and wife return to their status of being single with the right to contract marriage again”. It has gained many praises from Filipinos who’s been waiting for such a law to be proposed. In fact, in the poll conducted by the Social Weather Station revealed that 53% of the Philippine citizens declared themselves in favor of legalizing divorce. In a country that is so religious, most of us would agree that divorce is a sin against the natural law and the teachings of the church. But disregarding religion, divorce is a great solution for anyone that has been through a very abusive relationship with their partner. If the government approved annulment then why not approve divorce, where divorce acts like annulment but much better.

The grant of absolute divorce is affordable and inexpensive than filing an annulment. Sec. 3 no. 4 of the House Bill No. 7303 states that “the option of absolute divorce is a pro-woman legislation because in most cases, it is the wife who is entitled to a divorce as a liberation from an abusive relationship and to help her regain dignity and self-esteem” which is true, in most circumstances woman has the most cases to be abused having a divorce law that is pro-woman is a great help to get out of those bad circumstances. An annulment does not cover that case. Also, filing an annulment because of domestics or marital abuse is not approved, this is why the current divorce bill is better than annulment for it approves the nullity of marriage if they have been domestically abused it may be committed in the form of physical violence, psychological and emotional violence, sexual violence or economic abuse.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, the author of Senate Bill 2134 or Divorce Act of 2018, during an interview with GMA News said “while the State continues to recognize the sanctity of family life and endeavors to protect and strengthen the family, it is also duty-bound to promote and protect the well-being of its citizens”. "It is a duty that should extend to circumstances whereby this well-being is being compromised by the inability to break free from irremediably broken marriages and start anew in a healthier family and living arrangements," she said in the explanatory note. She further said that, based on studies, it is not divorce that creates well-being issues for children but bearing witness to their parents' troubled marriage. “Under Senate Bill 2134, filed in December 2018, divorce is defined as the legal termination of a marriage by a court in a legal proceeding, requiring a petition or complaint for divorce by one party, which will have the effect of returning both parties to the status of being single, including the right to remarry.

Among the grounds for divorce are psychological incapacity of either spouse, whether or not the incapacity was present at the time of the marriage or later; violation of the Violence Against Women and their Children Act; rape by the respondent-spouse against the petitioner-spouse before marriage; and irreconcilable differences or irreparable breakdown of marriage despite earnest efforts to reconcile. The bill states that a spouse found by the court to have used force, fraud, or intimidation to compel the other spouse to file the petition for absolute divorce shall be punished with imprisonment of five years and a fine of P200,000” added by BM, GMA News.