Manuel (Lolong) M. Lazaro
By Manuel (Lolong) M. Lazaro
Chairman, Philconsa
The Catholic doctrine on marriage dogmatically decrees marriage as a divine institution. Marriage or matrimony is the seventh sacrament. The divine institution of marriage was instituted by God as a unique and indissoluble bond between two persons. “Therefore now they are no longer two, but one flesh.” (Matt. 19:6) “What therefore God has joined together, let no man inclusive of legislator put asunder.” (Mk. 10:19).
Jesus Christ’s presence at the wedding in Cana and His miracle of changing water into wine attest to the divine recognition of the sacredness and solemnity of marriage. This is the dogma of faith. The sacrament of matrimony confers grace and sanctifies the spouses. The Church is given the corresponding power of guarding its holiness. The divine institution of marriage, its elevation to a sacrament and its distinct qualities of unity and indissolubility have, time and again, been questioned in the past, but triumphantly emerge victorious notwithstanding the overwhelming odds and the personalities involved. The sublimity of marriage as a divine institution has survived as one of the most precious of human values.
Eighty percent of the Filipino population are Catholics who believe, adhere, and observe the piety and spirituality of marriage and the sanctity of family life. Family is the progeny of marriage. These are two of the citadels of their faith as Roman Catholics. Reinvigorating with protuberance or eminence the dogmatic Catholic doctrines, Sec. 12, Art. II, captioned “State Policies” of the Constitution provides: “The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect, strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution…” Enshrining further the sanctimonious hallmark of the Filipino family, Sec. 1, Art. XV, of the Constitution: “The Family” declares: “The State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation.” Accordingly the State shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development. Sec. 2 Art XV, of the Constitution decrees: “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the state.” “It is the product or emanation of ‘marriage’ the inviolable social institution protected by the State” (Sec. II, Art. XV, Philippine Constitution.) The sui generis Filipino Catholic values the sacrament of marriage consecrated in the Bible and enshrined in the Constitution. The Bible and the Constitution define the unique Filipino spiritual and legal values of marriage and family life.
The words employed – “the State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect, strengthen the family as basic social institution” and “as the foundation of the nation and shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development” separately and collectively embody and crystallize marriage as an inviolable social institution, whose foundation or root abide in the sanctity of family, deserving of state protection.
The state’s recognition of the sanctity of Filipino family that shall be protected strengthens the cornerstone of the nation. To maintain and ensure the sanctity of the family and marriage, its foundation or root must remain inviolable to ensure the piety of family and state’s protection. The intent clearly abhors and spurns any act, measure or law that scorns or abominates the very sanctity of marriage.
Any measure or law that subverts, destroys, and disrupts the solemnity or nobility of marriage and/or Filipino family as a divine and constitutional social institution not only transgresses the majestic Constitution but also desecrates the Holy Bible.
Lamentably, House Bill No. 7303, “An act Instituting Absolute Divorce and Dissolution of marriage in the Philippines” violates the inviolability of marriage exalted in the Constitution as a social institution and undermines the Filipino family life as a basic autonomous social institution, the foundation of the nation. The term “inviolable” is pregnant with significance. It is derived from the Latin word “inviolatus” meaning not corrupted; immaculate; unhurt; untouched (Cf. 48 J.S. 762). As a noun, inviolability connotes “the attribute of being secured against violation” (Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, Vol. II, Third Revision, p. 1682).
The “inviolability” or indissolubility of marriage is the legal or divine refined product of the long struggle to maintain and sustain the sanctity of family life and the piety and righteousness of marriage as divine and constitutional institutions. It is the terse and compact summation of the abhorrence and detestation to the heartbreaking and afflictive experiences in the country where 80% belong or embraced the Roman Catholic faith.
However, aware of the vicissitudes and realities of the erratic and societal or religious values accented by the fleeting pleasures of the flesh and earthly delights, the Bible, Civil Code, and Family Code have provided for distinct grounds for legal separation or annulment of the marriage for implementation by the courts and the Church. The recognition by law of the Church annulment of marriage solemnized by the Church is a signal divine decision of Congress. But an absolute divorce, by any name, form, or shape violates the “state policy” on the inviolability of marriage and desecrates the sacrament of matrimony, a divine institution. House Bill 7303 rejects the stone that is the cornerstone of the piety of Filipino marriage and family life and the constitutional inviolability of marriage.
The forceful and dynamic words employed in the Constitution, embellished and extolled with spiritual, legal, and moral societal dimensions, a prototype uniquely Filipino, articulate and impound emphatically the meaning or intention. The sanctity of family life is the product of marriage an “indisoluble social institution” and the foundation of the family. Article 216 of the Civil Code (1950) provides: “The family is a basic social institution which public policy cherishes and protects.” This is so because the “Filipino family” is the bedrock of Filipino faith.
The blessed marriages and sanctified families are slices of paradise on earth. Unsanctified, unblest, or blighted marriages and/or families are curse-laden and bedeviled, emit the taste of hell on earth.
The millions of devout Catholics are pinning their hopes and faith in the Senate’s and/or President’s cognizance of the ratiocination and nuances of the inviolability and indissolubility of marriage, divinely and constitutionally instituted. To undermine or breach the inviolability of marriage, the foundation of sanctimonious family life, shall begin the end of the sanctity of family life and corrosion of the indissolubility and/or inviolability of marriage. It will commence the subtle decay of the Catholic faith of our country,
One of the two nations, which resisted the breach of inviolability of marriage and remain faithful to the decrees of the Bible and the Constitution. Very often in the past, the Senate and/or the President became the saviour of risky or questionable political adventurism or vicissitudes. The Catholic faith shall prevail in the end.