Divorce bill sponsored before House plenary

A bill legalizing divorce in the country was sponsored before the plenary in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

In her sponsorship speech of House Bill 9349, House Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela party-list lawmaker Arlene Brosas noted that legalizing divorce was a means for abused women to be free from their dire situations and allowed them the opportunity to live a new life that was free from violence and abuse.

“While wives demand absolute fidelity, men are granted sexual license to have affairs outside marriage. Yet when the marriage fails, the woman is blamed for its failure,” Brosas said.

“Given the country’s history, the bill seeks to restore divorce as a rights-based option for majority of Filipinos, an option based on the recognition that the right to enter into a marriage contract has the corresponding spousal right to end such contract when it has reached the point of irreparability,” Brosas added.

Brosas also emphasized that legalizing divorce would not necessarily lead to the termination of marriages and breakups.

“It is merely offering another option to spouses who may or may not resort it. It retains the existing remedies of legal separation, declaration of nullity of the marriage, and annulment and only adds divorce as one more remedy,” Brosas said. — DVM, GMA Integrated News