Pideral Commentary: Divorce in the Philippines premature?

The Philippines has a Tri-cultural religious and ethnic beliefs, meaning, it bears the belief of Christian, Muslim and Lumad. Beyond the shadow of doubt the Philippines is predominantly a Catholic country. In fact, it is estimated about 85% of the population is catholic,  This has a tremendous impact in terms of political culture of the Filipinos, how they think , their behavior and their political attitude towards Philippine Politics - especially, towards the Laws.  The Catholic institutions such as the CBCP is a conservative-dramatic association that has been many times played a role in Philippine Politics, to name: the EDSA People Power Revolution and that was fueled by the then Cardinal Jaime Sin, the opposition towards RH-Law, Death-Penalty, Juvenile Justice and Welface Act, and advocating "that it is the duty of the Church to educate the people."

And so, here we are again, the CBCP recently opposed the Divoce Bill after the Rh-Bill have passed on the ground that familiy institution is sacred.  They said instead of pushing Divorce Bill, the government should focus on the real issues, such as poverty, unemployment, prostitution and the so-called 'social cancer', (cbcpforlife.com; No divorce, a distinction for Philippines).  The CBCP Legal Counsel Atty.  Jo Imbong said:

“Let’s look at the western countries, it was a disaster. Destroyed family, destroyed children, destroy stepchild/parents relationship, everything is in havoc. Now do you want that to happen in this country? " She asked.  Those examples are irrefutable, “kitang kita na.”

And further, "The Philippine Constitution mandates the protection of the family, Imbong said. It “recognizes the sanctity of life, and marriage as a sacred union. You don’t destroy or attack something that is sacred. It is not even the Church that said it but the state."

So now, Instead of asking ourselves: Is there a need for the Philippines to have a Divorce Law? Rather ask: Does Divorce Law help those families who have severe problems to maintain their marriage? And how does Divorce differ to Annulment, Legal Separation? Here are the differences:

In Legal Separation, the spouses are still considered married to each other, and, thus, may not remarry.

In Annulment, Annulment terminates a marriage just as in a divorce proceeding.  However, unlike a divorce, an annulled marriage returns the couple to their prior status before the marriage.  With an annulment, it’s as if the marriage never happened in the eyes of the law.  A marriage must be void or voidable under law in order for it to be annulled; valid marriages must go through divorce proceedings. (LegalMatch.com/effects-of-an-annulment)

Thus, if you have been legally separated you cannot remarry, on the other hand, annulment is a termination of marriage in general.

What about Divorce? I think the only distinction between divorce and annulment are its price, and the time-consume for processing.  Divorce is cheaper than annulment, and making it a pro-poor.  Unlike annulment, there is a lot processes that you need to undertake, and too much burden for the aggrieved party, to wit: you need to hire an psychiatrist in order to declare the incapacitated of the parents, those who are poor could not able to afford it.

Now in my stand, I firmly support Divorce because of its astounding necessity and cheap price.  More so, I would respectfully and faithfully based my grounds on the Scriptures that any person cannot divorce his wife except in sexual immorality. (Matthew 5:31-32). That only the guilty party cannot remarry, and the aggrieved party can do so.  If I am not mistaken, majority of the Filipino families are poor and couldn't be able to maintain their marriage for long, and who really wishes to generally terminate their marriage.  I will always argue that Divorce can be helpful for those poor families.  For example, supposed  a poor Family of X and Y, and Y being a husband committed a violation to their marriage and is a ground for a divorce, and so X having the ground  to file a divorce yet only annulment is allowed to undertake.  What would happen? X will be constrained to maintain the marriage because of lack of money to file for an annulment. As we all know that annulment is very expensive and I believe that only those elites can avail that while many poor Filipino families are calling every day to make their marriage terminated cannot avail such thing. 

The contention of the CBCP is irrelevant in the case of pushing for Divorce Law in the Philippines that instead of pushing this, the government should focus to address the social issues like poverty, prostitution, unemployment and the like.  But the question is that: Isn't family issues not a social one? The CBCP lacks to grasp the actual economic and social condition of the Family in the Philippines.  The worst is that they even claim that they have the duty to educate people! I argue that it is the duty of the State to educate, improve, and empower the people through proper education.  It is quite right to include the religious ideals and morals to one of the school's subjects.  But claiming the duty to exclusively educate? I don't think so.  I believe more  in the potential of the State to do so.