What about divorce, your Holiness?

Davao del Norte 1st district representative, former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Thursday, Oct. 22, that he would like Pope Francis to reexamine, if not outright support, divorce as a “last resort” for unhappy married couples.

“Let us also hope that Pope Francis likewise has time to revisit the concern about dissolution of marriages and absolute divorce,” Alvarez said in a statement.

“This option, as a remedy of last resort, should be simple, affordable, and accessible to persons who find themselves in an irredeemably toxic relationship which harms the husband, the wife, their children, and destroys the peace, harmony, and health of the family,” he said.

The Mindanao solon’s wish came after the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, called homosexuals “children of God” who “have a right to a family.”

For Alvarez, this declaration from the Pope might give the awareness and understanding needed for his fellow Philippine legislators to pass the proposed same-sex union law, or House Bill (HB) No.2264.

The previous measure filed in sequence, HB No.2263, is the proposed Act instituting absolute divorce and dissolution of marriage in the Philippines. Both bills have been refiled by Alvarez in the current 18th Congress based on their versions in the previous congress.

“ passed third reading during the 17th Congress, was transmitted to the Senate, but did not succeed there,” the solon recalled.

The Philippines and the Vatican, which is led by the Pope himself, are the only two states in the world that do not have a divorce law.

The only option for unhappy married couples in the Philippines is to file for an annulment of their marriage, which can be a long, tedious, and expensive process.