DIVORCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

So to say that divorce does not exist in present

Philippine law is not accurate.  The prohibition against
divorce under Philippine law applies only to Filipinos
whose marriages are not governed by the Muslim Code.
Since Philippine law on marriage applies to all Filipino
citizens even though they are residing in a foreign
country, the prohibition against divorce for non-Muslim
Filipinos is also a concern of Filipino expatriates. We
are the only country in the world that has no divorce law
for all its citizens regardless of religious belief or
affiliation.

Divorce in the Philippines has been an issue for

several years. In fact, the Philippines is the only
country in the world besides the Vatican that does not
allow divorce, mostly due to religion (de Leon, 2014).
Little do people know that GABRIELA Women’s Party has
already proposed House Bill No. 1799 or the Divorce Bill.
If signed, this bill would allow individuals to be free
of their unhappy and most of the time abusive marriages
and also gives guidelines for settling financial concerns
as well as the custody of the children, if any. But even
though people should have the right to leave a bad
marriage, divorce should not be legalized in the
Philippines.

People who say that divorce is not advisable for the

Philippines forget or ignore our history. The ethno-
linguistic communities of the Philippine archipelago
before the Spanish conquest practiced divorce. We had a
divorce law from 1917 until August 30, 1950, when the
Civil Code of 1950 took effect. The latter law prohibited
divorce for Filipinos, and the prohibition continues
under the present Family Code. But Muslim Filipinos have
always practiced divorce, which Philippine law allowed.
Today, divorce continues to be available to Muslim
Filipinos under the Code of Muslim Personal Law of the
Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1083), promulgated
in 1977.

What exactly is divorce and why do couples do it?

Oxford Dictionaries (2015) defines divorce as “the legal
dissolution of marriage by a court or other competent
body”. In this, many factors can be blamed like a lack of
commitment and equality in the relationship, infidelity,
marrying too young, and abuse (Utah State University,
2015). But what it all really boils down to is an unhappy
marriage and that is what divorce should be able to fix,
if ever it would be allowed. If a person is stuck in a
sad, or worse, abusive marriage, then he/she should have
the right to escape it. Based on the National Demographic
and Health Survey conducted by the National Statistics
Office, one out of five women aged 15-49 has experienced
physical violence and 14.4 percent of married women have
experienced physical abuse from their husbands.
Statistics have also shown that wife battery ranked
highest among cases of violence against women at 72
percent in 2009, affecting more than 6,000 women (Umil,
2011). On the other hand, a sad marriage is just as bad
as an abusive one. According to the Philippine’s
Solicitor General’s office, there were 9,117 petitions
for annulment filed in 2010, 61 percent of which were
filed by women. The pros of divorce definitely have good
points, but the Philippine society, with its traditional
mindset, is not quite ready for it.

The biggest factor as to why the Philippines should

reject divorce is religion. Roughly 83 percent of
Filipinos are Roman Catholics (de Leon, 2014). This means
that the church’s opinion matters a lot to the people,
and the church firmly says no. Firstly, marriage is one
of the Seven Sacraments that all Catholics celebrate and
hold dear. Marriage, according to American Catholic, is a
public sign that one gives oneself totally to another
person. It is especially sacred to Catholics because
having a church wedding means a person is not only making
a promise to his/her future spouse but also to God. An
interview with Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the
president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the
Philippines revealed the church’s opinion on the issue,
saying that divorce makes a mockery of marriage. If
divorce is allowed, the sanctity of marriage will be
lost. It won’t seem like such an important decision to
some because one can always “undo” and “redo”. Secondly,
couples will soon choose the easy way out of a situation.
The simplest problems will have the power to break
marriages apart because couples would see divorce as an
option, instead of working through the problem as a team.
As a result of that, more and more couples will end in
divorce and will set a bad example for their children.
Future generations will put less importance on marriage
when they mature and the cycle just continues.

Some think that we do not need a divorce law because

the Family Code, which applies to non-Muslim Filipinos,
already provides for the termination of marriages through
“annulment.” This argument misleads. Annulment is a legal
term that has a specific meaning. 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 (as when a person
married another at gunpoint). The remedy of annulment
expires, and the defect may actually be cured by
ratification through free and voluntary cohabitation.

Although legalizing divorce can save many

individuals from bad relationships, it can also erase the
importance of marriage. The Philippines cannot lose the
sanctity of marriage because majority of Filipinos are
Catholic and the family plays a big role in the
Philippine culture. On the other hand, individuals in
failed marriages can always opt for an annulment or a
legal separation from their spouse. Aside from that,
there isn’t really much of a reason to legalize divorce.
People just need to be completely sure of the person that
they will be marrying to be able to sustain a happy and
healthy relationship.

 https://c39lacsoncharmaine.wordpress.com/
2015/04/21/divorce-in-the-philippines-argumentative-
essay/

 http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/2013/2/
why-the-philippines-needs-a-divorce-law
 PHILIPPINE CULTURE - COMMON FAMILY TRAITS

Filipinos highly value the presence of their

families more than anything. Regardless of the liberal

influence they have gotten from the west, the family

remained the basic unit of their society. This trait

clearly shows among Filipinos abroad who suffer

homesickness and tough work just to support their

families back home in the Philippines.

In a traditional Filipino family, the father is

considered the head and the provider of the family while

the mother takes responsibility of the domestic needs and

in charge of the emotional growth and values formation of

the children. They both perform different tasks and being

remarked separately by the children. Children see their

mothers soft and calm, while they regard their fathers as

strong and the most eminent figure in the family.

 Because of this remarkable closeness, parents

sometimes have difficulties letting go of their children

and thus results to having them stay for as long as they

want. For this somehow explains why grandparents are

commonly seen living with their children in the

Philippines. Unlike the way people grow old in the west

where they are provided with outside homes and care

giving, Filipino elderly enjoy their remaining lives

inside their houses with their children and grandchildren

looking after them.

Another trait Filipinos made themselves exceptional

from others is their strong respect for elders. Children

are taught from birth how to say “po” and “opo” to teach

them as early as possible how to properly respect their

elders. These words are used to show respect to people of

older level. Even adults will be criticized for not using

these words when speaking with their parents or people

older than them. Inside the family, the parents are

expected to receive the highest respect from the children

along with the elder siblings; as they are given more

responsibilities to look after younger siblings when

parents are not around.

 Children fighting back or addressing parents or

elder siblings with arrogant tone are not at all

tolerated. They are also not allowed to leave the house

without their parents’ permission. Upon arriving home,

conservative families expect children to practice the

kissing of hands or placing their parents or elder family

members’ hand to their foreheads with the words “mano po”

as a sort of greeting.

Even after finishing school, Filipino children are

not obliged to get out of their homes unless they want

to. In fact, most of them keep their close relationship

to their parents by staying at least before they get

married. Leaving them happens only when they really have

to, but usually, at least one child, depending on his

willingness and financial capabilities, stay even after

marriage to support and look after their aging parents.

Moreover, Filipinos keep close connection with other

relatives. They recognize them from 2nd degree to the

last they can identify. As Filipinos say, “not being able

to know a relative is like turning their backs from where

they come from.”

 TEENAGE PREGNANCY

In the Philippines, according to the 2002 Young Adult

Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the

Philippines Population Institute (Uppi) and the Demographic

Research and Development Foundation, 26 percent of our

Filipino youth nationwide from ages 15 to 25 admitted to

having a premarital sex experience. What’s worse is that 38

percent of our youth are already in a live-in arrangement.

Teenage pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant of

adolescence aged 10 to 19. Those who are affected are the

girl herself up to the national society. The victims of

teenage pregnancy are the girl herself, her child, her

parents and relatives and the national society as a whole.

It will also probably make her economically vulnerable.

The national scope of the problem is alarming; the

United Nation Population Fund Agency (UNPFC) representative

Ugochi Daniels’ claims that this could derail the country’s

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Millennium

Development Goals are eight international development goals

that the UN member states have agreed to achieve by the year

2015. These MDG include eradicating extreme poverty and

attaining universal primary education. In fact, among the

six ASEAN major economies, the Philippines ranked the

highest rate in teenage pregnancy.

Teen pregnancy is a communal problem, a family problem,

and a personal problem all rolled into one. It frequently

goes hand in hand with premarital sex. Problems come when

the news needs to breach each parent’s party. A spring of

thought flash before one’s eyes, and registers only two;

whether, to back the hell up – abort the child or carry on

with the pregnancy but sign up for adoption - or get the

hell in – have the child with all its perks and consequences

alike.

After which, these impressions simply serve no purpose

but to put them off, and deduce to mere nuisance to them

when the truth of their situation slowly sinks in. How do

they provide for the child if their parents cut them short

financially? Will they be able to go to grad school? What

will become of their future? What will become of their

child’s future? By this time, they would have to contend

with the pressures of parenthood. What’ll truly bother them

in the long run is the reality of whether or not they can

fulfill their obligation as parents, and the security of

their child’s future. Teenage pregnancy is becoming a

societal problem that branches out to other problems.

One of the reasons why teenagers are already aware with

this topic is because of media. They get a higher knowledge

to sex from the magazines, TV shows, internet, movies and

other media. In television, they now also create and make

shows about teen pregnancy like “Teen Moms” and “16 and

Pregnant”. These shows make us realize that the rate of this

problem is getting higher and it is getting usual. There are

a lot of reported cases regarding teenage pregnancy since

the past few years until now.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), teenage

pregnancy has a huge rate in the Philippines, especially

among the poor. 2/3 of Filipinos, who give birth before age

20, belongs to the low class society. Data from the National

Statistics Office showed that 8 percent among 1.7 million

babies born in 2004 were born to mothers 15-19 years old.

Young mother gave birth to 818,000 babies in 2000 alone.

This means, almost one of every 10 babies is born to teenage

mothers. The risk is, almost 10 percent of the born babies

from young mothers are malnourished. As years passed by, the

statistics are getting higher. According to the study done

by the Population Institute of the University of the

Philippines, more than 46 percent of teenage pregnant woman

resort to induced abortion which is against the law and the

Church; 2 of every 5 teenage pregnancies are unwanted ones.

If the government won’t start acting on this, this problem

will be worse as years goes by.

In the developed world, the causes of teenage pregnancy

is different in the sense that it is mostly outside marriage

and carries lots of social stigma. Thus, adolescent sexual

behavior is one of the causes of teenage pregnancy. In our

world today, having sex before 20 yrs is the “in” thing, it

is even normal all over the world and this is brought about

high levels of adolescent pregnancy which creates sexual

relationship among teenagers without the provision of

comprehensive information about sex.

The immature and irresponsible behavior arising due to

complex teenage psychology is another important cause of

teenage pregnancies. Teenagers often go through a number of

emotions because of their own transition from childhood and

peer pressure.
 Lack of sexual education causes teens to get abortions

as they ultimately realize their inability to bear the

responsibilities of being a parent at such a young age.

The lack of attention and affection from family

resulting in depression forces them to seek love and support

from other people, especially members of the opposite sex.

Overprotection gives rise to frustration and a feeling

of not being loved and cared for. Thus, balance is the key

to avoid this problem. Lack of affectionate supervision of

parents or guardians results into the adolescents or teenage

girl’s becoming pregnant.

The issue of teenage pregnancy has several

consequences. It is continually increasing the population

growth rate in the society. Many babies are being born

through it, which cannot be catered for by the available

resources.

The issue encourages dropping out from schools. Many

pregnant female children end up dropping out from school to

avoid shame thus undermining government's efforts towards

ensuring Education for All and the Millennium Development

goal of Education in the nearest future.

Due to poverty, many of those involved in teenage

pregnancy die off prematurely because of lack of proper

medical attention.

According to the CDC, children born to teenage mothers

have an effect on society as well. These babies are more

likely to rely on public health care throughout their lives

and because they also have more chronic medical conditions,

this places a higher burden on the health system. 

There are no specific laws that address the growing

problem of teenage pregnancy in our country; not only in our

country but worldwide. This cannot be prevented since it is

the decision of the couple. One cannot simply tell a couple

to not “do the deed” or have sex since they themselves are

capable of voicing opinions out.

The following laws are implemented to address the

social issue of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines; not

directly but is connected to that topic as well: the RH Bill

which includes sex education and the use of

contraceptives--- and that’s about it. This tells us several

things: firstly, there are not enough laws that address

teenage pregnancy since it is really difficult to monitor

it. Secondly, this social issue cannot be prevented with the

help of laws since people cannot be controlled in their

decisions. And thirdly, this is a social issue that

continues everywhere and not even government officials or

politicians know how to control it.

Sex education can reach teenagers through many

different ways, one of which is through schools. The

government can make it compulsory for school students to

undergo at least a certain number of hours of sex education.

Instead of focusing on the dangers and consequences of

teenage pregnancy, schools can also educate teenagers on the

advantages of not having a baby when they are unprepared so

that students may be able to weigh out the pros and the

cons. This can be enforced by getting students to attend

service learning trips and having them be exposed to the

real world of teenage pregnancy. 

Another way that teenagers can be educated about sex is

through their parents but in order for this to work, there

must be a strong relationship between the child and the

parent. Also with a strong relationship, parents can have

more influence in their child’s sex decisions and may be

able to direct their decisions in the right way. So in other

words, having a good parent-child relationship can help to

decrease the affected population.