● Destroys the sanctity of marriage:

In Arroyo, Jr. v. Court of Appeals 203 SCRA 750 (1991) G.R. No. 96602 November
19, 1991, the Court stressed strongly the need to protect the basic social institutions
of marriage and the family in the preservation of which the State base the strongest
interest; the public policy here involved is of the most fundamental kind. In Article II,
Section 12 of the Constitution there is set forth the following basic state policy:
The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect find strengthen the
family as a basic autonomous social institution ...

The same sentiment has been expressed in the Family Code of the Philippines in
Article 149:
The family, being the foundation of the ration, is a basic social institution which public
policy cherishes and protects. Consequently, family relations are governed by law
and no custom, practice or agreement destructive of the family shall be recognized or
given effect.

In Tongol v. Tongol G.R. No. 157610 October 19, 2007, the Court recognized that
disagreements on money matters (and other family management matters) would, no
doubt, affect the other aspects of one's marriage as to make the wedlock
unsatisfactory. But such disagreements are common, and even normal, occurrence
between husbands and wives.

Anees Lokhande, Jubail, writer for Arab News, says spouses must understand that
nobody is perfect. In order to live a peaceful life, spouses should not find faults with
each other, and they must learn the art of restraining and ignoring each other’s faults.
For the sake of a healthy marital life, spouses should not make problems over trifles.

Note: Divorce eliminates the permanency of marriage, making marital union just an
expensive dating ceremony. The wife and the husband are discouraged to reconciliation
when they know escape is possible.

Note2: What divorce has that legal separation doesn’t is it allows remarriage which ultimately
destroys the sanctity of marriage.

● Incompatible with strong family ties

“As far back as our knowledge takes us, human beings have lived in families. We know of no
period where this was not so. We know of no people who have succeeded for long in
dissolving the family or displacing it … Again and again, in spite of proposals for change and
actual experiments, human societies have reaffirmed their dependence on the family as the
basic unit of human living—the family of father, mother and children.” Mead, Margaret and
Ken Heyman. 1965. Family. New York: Macmillan. pp. 77-78.

Note: Divorce is a threat to one of the oldest values of the Filipino family - a strong family tie.
Marital problems commonly involving the husband and the wife cannot become a State
responsibility as to deprive the children and other members of the family, like in-laws and
2nd degree relatives, of the support of the family.

● Physically and mentally unhealthy to members of the family

In a 2009 study conducted by sociologists Linda Waite and Mary Elizabeth Hughes of
University of Chicago involving 8,652 people aged 51 to 61 researched showed that
divorced people have 20% more chronic illnesses such as cancer than those who
never marry. Dr. Linda Waite said divorce or widowhood undermines health because
incomes drop and stress develops over issues such as shared child care.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8170234.stm)

Teenagers in single-parent families and in blended families are three times more
likely to need psychological help within a given year. (Peter Hill “Recent Advances in
Selected Aspects of Adolescent Development” Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry 1993)

Compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes
have more psychological problems. (Robert E. Emery, Marriage, Divorce and
Children’s Adjustment” Sage Publications, 1988)

● Negative impact on children

A study of children six years after a parental marriage breakup revealed that even after all
that time, these children tended to be “lonely, unhappy, anxious and insecure. (Wallerstein
“The Long-Term Effects of Divorce on Children” Journal of the American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry 1991)

Forty percent of children growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers.
(Wade, Horn and Busy, “Fathers, Marriage and Welfare Reform” Hudson Institute Executive
Briefing, 1997)

Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of these, close
to half will also see the breakup of a parent’s second marriage.” (Furstenberg, Peterson,
Nord, and Zill, “Life Course”)

Numerous studies have found that parental separation and divorce is associated with
a range of negative outcomes for younger children and adolescents across various
domains. Parental separation/divorce is associated with academic difficulties,
including lower grades and prematurely dropping out of school, and greater disruptive
behaviours (e.g., being oppositional with authority figures, getting into fights, stealing,
and using and abusing alcohol and illegal drugs). Children and adolescents who
experience the divorce of their parents also have higher rates of depressed mood,
lower self-esteem, and emotional distress.

- Amato PR. Research on divorce: Continuing trends and new developments. Journal
of Marriage and Family 2010;72:650-666
 - Lansford JE. Parental divorce and child adjustment. Perspectives on Psychological
Science 2009;4:140-152.
- Kelly JB, Emery RE. Children’s adjustment following divorce: Risk and resilience
perspectives. Family Relations 2003;52:352-362.

US studies show that children of divorced couples often blame themselves for the divorce,
which creates debilitating guilt. They are inevitably hurt financially as the fractured family
bears the cost of maintaining two households. They are more likely to develop behavioural
problems, such as delinquency, and to suffer significantly higher incidences of depression
and fear of abandonment. They are more likely to have learning difficulties and to drop out of
high school, and hence less likely to graduate from university, than are children from “intact
homes”, even when compared to children from families who have lost a father through
death. (T.J. Biblarz and G. Gottainer, “Family structure and children’s success: A
comparison of widowed and divorced single-mother families” (2000) 62 Journal of Marriage
and the Family 533.)

Children of divorce are more likely to experience poverty, educational failure, early and risky
sexual activity, non-marital childbirth, earlier marriage, cohabitation, marital discord and
divorce. In fact, emotional problems associated with divorce actually increase during young
adulthood.
- Cherlin AJ, Chase-Lansdale PL, McRae C. Effects of parental divorce on mental
health throughout the life course. American Sociological Review 1998;63:239-249.

"So many persons think divorce a panacea for every ill, find out, when they try it, that the
remedy is worse than the disease" (Qtd in Harper 192). Divorce, in any circumstance, rips a
child apart, tossing him/her from one house to another, limiting time spent with his/her
parents, and confusing him/her. There are very few reasons that would prove to be more
beneficial for the parent to leave than to stay and endure his/her marriage. Usually it is more
advantageous to children if their parents work through their differences rather than get a
divorce.

One of the biggest problems that divorce imposes on children is the decision of whom to live
with. Usually parents divorce when children are small and the children have no say in where
they go. Since the child cannot choose, this leads to custody battles that end in split custody
or joint custody. Whatever the choice may be between the two types of custody, either will
prove detrimental to the child.

When split custody is the decision, it forces a child to choose (or the court to choose) one
parent to live with, and it limits the quality time the child spends with either parent. When the
child only lives with one parent, the ties with the other parent are severely damaged.
According to the National Survey of Children, close to half of all children with divorced
parents had not seen their nonresidential parent in the past year, and only one in six had
weekly contact or better (Whitehead 2). Since the children don’t see both parents often, the
parent with whom the child lives is usually thought upon as strict and no fun because that
parent is always there and is always responsible for disciplining the child. The nonresidential
parent is more often viewed as the fun, exciting one that the child longs to be with. This
parent many times showers his/her child with presents, and money is used in an attempt to
buy the child’s love. The child, although often spoiled, does not usually feel the deep security
of having a close family, since he/she is constantly moving from house to house. Because of
the constant movement, the child does not generally receive quality time from either parent,
and it makes it more difficult to feel loved.

Joint custody, on the other hand, proves to be even less successful (Zinmeister 29). This
type of custody is now allowed in half of the states, although, joint custody is very unusual
because of the extreme complications. In California, where divorce is more common than
anywhere else, only eighteen percent of divorced couples have joint custody. Even when the
divorced parents maintain regular contact with their children, truly cooperative child rearing is
rare (Zinmeister 29). Most often, research shows, the estranged parents have no
communication or mutual reinforcement; this leads to very unhealthy parent-child
relationships. Joint custody is even worse on a child because there is even more movement
involved. With split custody, the child goes to the nonresidential parent’s house on a certain
schedule. In joint custody, however, the child is constantly moves back and forth between
houses, causing an even greater lack of quality time between parent and child.

The custody battle can be damaging, but the divorce of a child’s parents can also thoroughly
confuse the child, suggesting that it is better for parents to stay together. The child does not
have a concept as to what commitment really means. Since these children see their parents
breaking vows without a second thought, they begin to believe that what is right for a parent
must be the right thing for them to do as well. Children are shown that they do not have to
work out their problems as long as they can run away. This is one reason that so often today
when someone makes a promise there is really no certainty of whether it will happen or not.
According to The Effects of Divorce on Children, an article written by J. Lynn Rhodes, young
adults whose parents have divorced previously are likely to have social problems and trouble
forming and maintaining intimate relationships (Effects 1). The value of a person’s word has
lessened. This is partly because of the bad examples parents are setting for their children
when they get a divorce.

- The Negative Effects of Divorce on Children by Jayna Solinger

According to a well-known study undertaken in 2002 by the Washington-based research

body, Child Trends, it is far better for a child’s development that he or she grows up in the
presence of his or her two biological parents. Unmarried motherhood, divorce, cohabitation
and step-parenting are widely known to fall short in significant developmental domains (such
as education, behavioural outcomes and emotional well-being), due in no small part to the
comparative fragility and instability of such relationships.

● Financial difficulties of the aftermath

It has been shown in the US that women’s standards of living decline approximately 30%
post-divorce as a consequence of divorce, while men’s decline about 10% as validated in a
number of subsequent studies, in the seminal work by Professors Saul D. Hoffman and Greg
J. Duncan. (S.D. Hoffman and G.J. Duncan, “The effect of incomes, wages, and AFDC
benefits on marital disruption” (1995) 30(1) The Journal of Human Resources 19.)
A research carried out by Canberra University National Center for Social and Economic
Modelling indicates that divorce generally leaves both partners worse off economically,
although women tend to experience the greater fall in disposable income.(S. Anon, “Divorce
shrinks income”, Herald Sun (Melbourne), April 6, 2005, p.29.)