Denise Grace H.

Labagnao
LlB 1-E

Divorce gives people a fresh start to lead better lives. Living in a marriage

where love, respect, friendship, and compatibility are gone is a life without hope. Let

us think about other people suffering due to unhappiness brought by their marriage.

What is the sense of being binded by a piece of paper when it is actually ruining your

whole life? Divorce nullifies marriage, therefore, giving couples the freedom to

remarry and to escape from an unhappy relationship. Divorce should be legalized in

the Philippines.

From the articles of Evelyn Ursua (Positively Filipino) and Anne Umil (Bulatlat)

entitled Why the Philippines needs a divorce law? and Divorce bill, providing a

remedy for women in abusive marriages, an excerpt from Sen. Pia Cayetanos

privilege speech, annual comparative statistics on violence against women (2004-

2011) and a poll result in an online website.

A divorce is a legal action between married people to terminate their

marriage relationship. It can be referred to as dissolution of marriage and is

basically, the legal action that ends the marriage before the death of either spouse.

The purpose of a divorce is to terminate the parties marriage. Marriage is a legal

contract or a social union that unites people of the opposite sex who agree to live as

a husband and a wife. It is a binding contract between two people who decide to join

their lives, income and possessions. Marriage relationship forms a family unit that

consists of a father, mother and children. It is also an institution where people

acknowledge interpersonal relationships, which is usually sexual and intimate. Most

people and cultures formalize a marriage union through a wedding ceremony.

Reasons for marriage include emotional, social, legal, religion and spiritual

obligations. An annulment is legal decree that states that a marriage was never
valid. The legal effect of an annulment is to void the marriage as though it never

existed. Cases where annulments have been granted in the past based on fraud

includes citizenship, sexual relationship, character, honesty, health, financial, and

religion

Divorce has become one of the major issues in our society for the past years.

The social acceptability of divorce has varied widely across historical periods,

religious faiths, and cultures but not in the Philippines. Other than the Vatican City,

Philippines is the only nation that outlaws divorce.

The Philippines is known for being a strong Christian nation, with over 80% of

its population as Roman Catholics. They are the group that is known to be against

the divorce issue. According to the article from Positively Filipino Magazine entitled

Why the Philippines Needs a Divorce Law by Evalyn Ursua, the Catholic Church

will be the greatest opponent of the divorce bill. It was once argue against the bill on

moral grounds. But the Catholic Church does not need to worry. The institutions of

marriage and the family have survived to this day, as they will survive a Philippine

divorce law. We are a secular state, where no religious group has the right to define

law or policy for the entire population. The law should only give people a choice, to

be exercised according to their own personal beliefs.

We can clearly see that our Catholic orientation has been a dominant factor.

Divorce is something that we should adopt. Remember that Spain is the root of

Christianity yet divorce had been implemented. They are now benefiting from it. A lot

of people fear that divorce might erode the values and teachings of the Catholic

Church.

The cases of Italy and Spain (two Catholic countries which practice divorce)

are clear evidences of its invalidity. In accordance with House Bill No. 1799 filed by
the Gabriela Womens Party last July 27, 2010, Italy had only 7% while Spain

registers 15% of divorce rate. In addition to that, over 90% of the poll respondents

are in favor of divorce. In an official poll that ran from December 19 to January 3,

92.44 percent or 40,414 voted Yes to the question, Are you in favor of divorce in

the Philippines? This shows that the public, regardless of their marital status, is now

more open to accept the possibility of divorce. Everyone should have the right to

escape from a bad marriage and be happy again. Falling into wrong decision actually

happens. If we legalize divorce in our country, people with fail marriage will be given

a chance and freedom to choose the right one for them so they will not have to suffer

from a marriage that is not working anymore.

Everyday, there are Filipinos who get married, bear children, separate and get

into other relationships, regardless of what the law says. The lack of a divorce law for

Filipinos complicates further the marital and family problems of many Filipinos. Our

Government has clearly failed to respond to their needs. If the country wants to

move forward, it has to confront the realities of marital and family life of Filipinos in

the Philippines. Lets give other people another chance to live life with their desired

happiness. The divorce law needs to be legalized in the Philippines now.

It also put forward the claim that the process of Annulment is allowed in the

Philippines but why not divorce? After all, Annulment and divorce are just the same

it targets separation. However, Annulment only allows a legal separation through a

legal settlement. This will not allow any of the parties to remarry. Because of the

Family Code, some Filipinos think that we do not need a divorce for it already

provides to cease a marriage through annulment. This argument misleads. The

remedy of annulment is based on specified grounds that occurred at the time of the

celebration of the marriage, such as lack of parental consent and vitiated consent.
The remedy of annulment expires, and the defect may actually be cured by

ratification through free and voluntary cohabitation (Positively Filipino, 2013).

When people speak of annulment as a means of terminating a marriage,

they actually refer to the remedy under Article 36 of the Family Code. Article 36

declares that a marriage is void from the beginning when one or both spouses are

psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. Under

Article 36, a court does not terminate a marriage but only declares it void. One must

prove psychological incapacity by presenting evidence on three essential elements

of the condition: that it already existed before the marriage; that it is grave or serious;

and that it is incurable. To do this, one usually needs the help of a psychiatrist or

psychologist to testify as an expert witness (Positively Filipino, 2013). Article 36 of

the Family Code only nullifies a marriage when one has proved that he or she is

psychologically incapacitated (Bulatlat, 2011). Therefore, annulment has no defined

grounds and terms for terminating a marriage.

In support to this, Senator Pia Cayetano once stated in her privilege speech,

Ill tell you why. Ive talked to lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists and its so

traumatic to go through annulment because under our Philippine laws, you have to

blame someone, you have to say youre incapacitated, youre saying that this

marriage never existed, which is not true,

A divorce law will provide a remedy that Article 36 does not. Divorce does not

concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based

on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship

no longer tenable, regardless of the spouses psychological constitution. A divorce

law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit the

Filipinos.

Given the fact that most of the people in our country are financially challenged

to stop unhealthy married life, divorce is the way to get peace out of a futile

marriage. Divorce is the answer for both men and women who feel used, battered or

tortured mentally in their marriage. Today, divorce is one way to lessen violence.

Annulment is just a legal separation and does not allow women to have a right to be

happily remarried. This completely rejects the idea of new life - divorce does.

Therefore it concludes that divorce should be legalized in the Philippines

because couples should have the option to choose for remedies that will help them

in obtaining their self actualization. The remedy is divorce. They should have the

right to escape from marriages that they entered before and let them live a new and

happy life. Given the aforementioned evidences, it strongly claim that legalizing

divorce would be a big help for Filipinos. The lawmakers should prioritize the divorce

bill because the existing laws are not enough to address their needs. What we need

is a divorce law that defines clearly and unequivocally the grounds and terms for

terminating a marriage. Life is too short to be married to someone you dont want to

be married to. Divorce is a choice and we all should have the freedom to make

choices.

Simplify the divorce process and let the couples continue on with their lives in

to find the partner they will be happy with to live their lives. Furthermore, in cases

where a union is more harmful than beneficial, a divorce can be a benevolent and

less hurtful way of severing ties with your partner. When the marriage is no longer

viable, divorce should be an option.