Buena, Marco Antonio

Candolita, Therese Anne

Masanguid, Remmon
Melendrez, Marie Florienne
Santos, Nicklaus Val S.
I- Wigmore
Main Topic: Mindanao Culture and Tradition
Title: Sentiments of Women Less Heard: Maranao Muslim Women on Divorce Under
PD 1083
Issue: How do the Maranao Muslim women perceive PD 1083s provisions on Divorce?
Introduction
In February 4, 1977, Presidential Decree No. 1083, better known as the Code of
Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines, took effect. It represents an attempt by the
Philippine Government to integrate and harmonize the Filipino Muslim into the general
stream of Filipino social, political and civic life.
1
In doing so, however, the government
legitimized traditions and practices that limit the rights of women in contrast to other
Philippine laws that seek to guarantee gender equality, protect womens rights, and
empower women.
Much has already been written about womens rights in Islam and its seemingly
anti-feminist values. One of the most controversial topics is the apparent sanction of
divorce by the Islamic religion. Chapter 3 Article 46 of PD 1083 on Divorce states that a
divorce by talaq may be affected by the husband in a single repudiation of his wife during
her non-menstrual period (tuhr) within which he has totally abstained from carnal relation
with her.
2
Following the method found in divorce by talaq, a husband can divorce his
wife merely by telling her I divorce you, or words to that effect, during her non-
menstrual period.
Whereas in the Family Code of 1988, where marriage is defined as an inviolable
social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not
subject to stipulation
3
, relative divorce or legal separation is not so easy and can be
granted only when sufficient evidence meets the grounds provided by law. It must be
proven by the one who wants to legally separate.
For the purposes of this research, the initial objective is to explore the sentiments
of Muslim women, specifically Maranaos, on divorce under PD 1083. The Maranaos are
currently among the largest Muslim ethno-linguistic groups residing in Davao City.
1
Hagad, A. (1977) Comments on the Muslim Code: A Paper on PD. No. 1!".
#etrie$ed %rom http:&&pl'.upd.edu.ph&(omments)on)the)muslim)(ode)a)paper)on)p)d)
no)1"!&
*
PD 1"! Code o% Muslim Personal +a,s (1977). Art. -.
!
/amil0 Code o% the Philippines (19""), Art. 1
Davao City, as one of the biggest cities in the world, has a population mainly
composed of Visayans, Chinese and Muslims.
4
Among the Muslim groups dominating
Davao is the Maranao tribe, along with the Maguindanaos and Tausug. The Maranaos are
deemed to be the most dedicated to Islam among the Muslim communities. They are the
most conventional and form the largest Muslim community and cultural minority in the
Philippines.
5
Furthermore, this study aims to aid organizations focusing on womens rights
such as the Gabriela, Talikala and Philippine Commission on Women in strengthening
their advocacies by serving as a window to the realities on the lives of Maranao Muslim
Women in the modern times.
Statement of the Problem
The study seeks to address the issues and concerns of the Maranao Muslim
Women by exploring in depth their lived experiences to come up with responsive
recommendations to National Commission on Muslim Filipinos. Specifically, the study
seeks to answer the following sub-problems:
1. What are the lived experiences of Maranao Muslim Women regarding PD 1083?
2. What are the sentiments of Maranao Muslim Women with PD 1083 in terms of its
provisions on divorce?
Objectives of the Study
The study aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Gain perspectives and insights by purposively choosing Maranao Muslim Women
living in Davao City.
2. Draw common themes from the findings that will be used as one basis to come up
with Maranao Muslim Women-responsive recommendations.
3. Explore in depth the lived experiences of Maranao Muslim Women regarding
divorce.
4. Contribute to the body of knowledge, insights about PD 1083s provisions on
divorce as seen from the eyes of Maranao Muslim Women.
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Significance of the Study
Through the lived experiences and sentiments of Maranao Muslim Women, the
study hopes to explore the issues and sentiments of Maranao Muslim Women regarding
PD 1083s provisions on divorce. The researcher believes that doing so may enable the
readers to capture the less-heard voices of Maranao Muslim Women that could provide
inputs in turn for coming up with Maranao Muslim Women-responsive recommendations
to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, a government arm mandated by the
president to cater to Muslim Filipinos needs. The findings of the study may serve as one
of the bases for policy formulation that would benefit Maranao Muslim Women of today.

Scope and Limitations
As phenomenology requires a sample of 5 to 25 (Galvin 2008), six (6) Maranao
Muslim Women were chosen as conversational partners through the help of Sta. Ana
Elementary School. The conversational partners were self-identified Maranao Muslim
Women from various professions regardless of socio-economic status and educational
attainment in Davao City.
Review of Related Literature
Other than the Vatican, the Philippines is the only nation that prohibits divorce.
Prior to its colonization by Spain, indigenous cultures had forms of dissolutions of
marriage and during the Christianization of the Archipelago, only legal separation or
divorce (a separation of bed and board). In 1950, the New Civil Code (Republic act 386)
prohibited divorce. The annulment of marriage was proposed in the 1988 Family Code.
There are two exceptions of exceptions to the dissolution of marriage in the Philippines.
These concern Muslims and nationals married to a foreigner. The Republic act of 1949
provided that divorce among Muslims residing in non-Christian provinces would be
governed in conformity with Muslim laws and practices. In 1977 the Code of Muslim
Personal Laws in the Philippines (Presidential Decree 1083) allowed divorce for Muslims
in deference to Sharia Law, which recognizes and organizes divorce.
6
After the promulgation of P.D. 1083, there have been situations wherein the
Muslim Personal Laws on Marriage as provided in P.D. 1083 have been misunderstood
and abused to engage in unlawful marriages.
In the case of Nollora v. People of the Philippines,
7
the petitioner Nollora has
been charged with Bigamy for allegedly contracting subsequent marriage. He used his
religion as a defense and claimed that under Islam, he is allowed to marry more than
once. The court ruled that since evidence show that his marriages were not celebrated in
accordance with ! "#$%, the &amily 'ode will apply to wit(
.
Cultural 8o(iolog0 o% Di$or(e: An :n(0(lopedia :dited 10 #o1ert :. :mer0 (p. 971 )
7
Nollora $. People o% the Philippines, ;.#. No. 1.97.. (*11).
Indeed, )rticle "%*+, of the 'ode of -uslim ersonal .aws states that /0i1n case
of a marriage between a -uslim and a non2-uslim, solemni3ed not in
accordance with -uslim law or this 'ode, the 0&amily 'ode of the hilippines,
or 45ecutive 6rder No. +#7, in lieu of the 'ivil 'ode of the hilippines1 shall
apply.8
In the case of Juliano-Llave v. Republic
8
, it was ruled that Muslims who were
married under the civil rite cannot obtain absolute divorce. In this case, petitioner alleged
that the divorce obtained by Tamano in his marriage to Zorayda (the first wife) was under
PD 1083 of 1977.
She contended that Tamano did not have such bigamous marriage since Muslims are
allowed to file a divorce, yet the Supreme Court found out that the first marriage was
under the civil law. The prior wife and the second wife claimed that both of them are
rightful, this clearly shows that Tamano had put both women to establish their status as
his legal wife.
The Supreme Court ruled that Muslims in respect to their personal laws can file a
divorce when they contracted their marriage under such law. If proven that such marriage
was celebrated under the civil rite, Muslims are not allowed to invoke their right to
divorce where in the first place the law governing them is the Civil Code.
In an article published in the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, entitled: The
Legal Impediments to the Application of Islamic Family Law in the Philippines, it is
written that:
Permission of the wife is not necessary for contracting a subsequent
marriage, but the order of the court is binding to the parties. If the court
allows the husband to proceed with the subsequent marriage, the objections
of the wife become immaterial (Ali, 2010, p.101).
It gives us a view that consent of wife will lose its importance if the court would
allow the husband to contract subsequent marriage. Even if the wife contradicts, it will
not be given merit since the courts approval would suffice in order for the husband to
contract subsequent marriage. Here in the Philippines, the Muslim courts have authority
on marriages and divorce under P.D 1083
9
.
Another case tackling issues on marriage under PD 1083 is the case of Zamoranos
vs. People. In this case, petitioner, a Muslim convert, contracted two weddings, one to
Jesus de Guzman and another to Samson Pacasum under Islamic and civil rites. Pacasum
later filed for the annulment of her marriage to Zamoranos, as well as a criminal
complaint for Bigamy.
"
6uliano)+la$e $. #epu1li(, ;.#. No. 1.97.. (*11).
9
Anshari P. Ali, The Legal Impediments to the Application of Islamic Family Law in the
Philippines, 2010. #etrei$ed %rom http:&&a1outphilippines.ph&3ler&<he)Appli(ation)o%)
7slami()/amil0)+a,)in)the)Philippines)%ull)te=t.pd%
The Supreme Court held that that petitioners first marriage to De Guzman was
valid and recognized under Islamic law, and that petitioners divorce from and incidents
of such marriage are governed by P.D. No. 1083.
Nonetheless, even in criminal cases the trial court must have jurisdiction over the
subject matter of the offense, since Sharia Courts are not vested with jurisdiction over
offenses penalized under the Revised Penal Code. In this case, the charge of Bigamy is
not tenable, and the fact of Zamoranos Muslim status should have been apparent to the
lower courts.
With regards to divorce, the mere fact that the PD 1083 permits divorce for is
seen as liberating. Under Article 45 of the Code, there are seven ways in which a divorce
can be effected, namely repudiation of the wife by the husband (talaq); vow of continence
by the husband (ila); injurious assimilation of the wife by the husband, that is, an insult
by a husband to his wife which likens her to a female relation of his who is sexually
prohibited to him (zihar); acts of imprecation (lian); redemption by the wife (khul);
exercise by the wife of the delegated right to repudiate (tafwid); or judicial decree
(faskh).
Rina Jimenez-David, in an article published on Philippine Daily Inquirer,
discussed the importance of divorce in the Philippines. Rich couples who want to
terminate their marital union could afford the long and expensive process of seeking a
declaration of nullity of marriage both from the Church and from the courts, or they can
simply seek divorce abroad, while impoverished couples have little motivation to go
through the expense and inconvenience of a legal process.
9
It said that the middle-class
seems to be caught up in matters of legality, morality and propriety.
9
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1 C(to1er *11.
Methodology
In this chapter, the researcher presents the methods used in the inquiry and discuss
the strict adherence to the researchs ethical standards and processes. Early in the
problem identification, the researchers are confronted with a challenge: That the available
literature is insufficient to understand issues and concerns of Maranao Muslim Women
which makes bringing their stories in their purest form as much as possible, difficult.
Amorado (2007) wrote qualitative research used detailed descriptions of
situations, people, events, interactions and observed behavior; direct quotations from
people about their experiences, attitudes, beliefs and thoughts; and informed
interpretation of the meanings of individual cultural artifacts in context.
The researchers aim to bring the stories of the Maranao Muslim Women to the
readers in a way that the themes, symbols and meaning of their experiences will be best
captured. These are the reasons why the researcher chose a constructivist viewpoint, a
philosophy of most qualitative researches, in the inquiry.
The researcher deems phenomenology, most appropriate because this method asks
for the nature of the phenomenon by describing peoples experiences and how these were
experienced. By doing phenomenology which concerns with the what and the how,
the researchers expect that the subjective experiences, drawn from the lenses of the
respondents themselves will be presented well.
Access to Research Participants
Before choosing Maranao Muslim Women as the topic of study, the researchers
asked the Guidance Counselor of Sta. Ana Elementary School to be the gatekeeper. A
gatekeeper is someone who refers the prospective respondents to the researchers. The Sta.
Ana Elementary School is located in Sta. Ana Avenue, Davao City.
Sample Size
Unlike quantitative researches which focus on generalizability hence require
adequate sample size to represent the general population, qualitative researches consider
illumination through in-depth description.
The researchers gathered at least six (6) Maranao Muslim Women who are at least
18 years old and above as conversational partners or research participants. This is to
ensure that the data that would be gathered must have breadth, depth and richness.
Data Collection
The researcher shall ask permission from the respondents to audio record
interviews. For the data collection, the researchers followed the following major steps:
1. Data shall be collected from the six (6) conversational partners through in-depth
and multiple interviews by asking their experiences, feelings, beliefs and
convictions about the theme question.
2. The goal of main questions is to encourage people to talk about their experiences,
perceptions and understanding rather than give normative response or a textbook
type answer.
The Steps of Data Explication for Phenomenological Analysis
In analyzing qualitative data from direct, face to face in-depth interviews, the
procedures included preparing transcriptions, looking for concepts, themes and events,
coding and analyzing or explicating coded data:
The study will focus on the points of view of these people rather than habitus and
practice, however a brief cultural discussion will be included. The reason for this is the
time constraints involved with the study Malinowski's prescribed one year of field work
and participant observation did not prove to be feasible and no empirical conclusions can
be claimed from the said field technique. Though, it must be said for posterity if nothing
else, that some of the of the principles of the method were employed in the analysis of
data. Which simply means that the researchers are going to rely on previous verifiable
experiences of Muslim culture from and through acquaintances to help in the analysis of
the data, though not exclusively.
APPENDIX A
Chapter Three
DIVORCE (TALAQ)
Article 46. Divorce by talaq.
(1) A divorce by talaq may be affected by the husband in a single repudiation of
his wife during her non-menstrual period (tuhr) within which he has totally
abstained from carnal relation with her. Any number of repudiations made during
one tuhr shall constitute only one repudiation and shall become irrevocable after
the expiration of the prescribed 'idda.
(2) A husband who repudiates his wife, either for the first or second time, shall
have the right to take her back (ruju) within the prescribed 'idda by resumption of
cohabitation without need of a new contract of marriage. Should he fail to do so,
the repudiation shall become irrevocable (Talaq bain sugra).