The Philippines is now poised to join other countries that honors and recognizes divorce.
This, after a Senate panel approved the measure that provides absolute divorce in the Philippines.
Senate Bill No. 2443, or the proposed “Dissolution of Marriage Act”, expands the grounds for dissolution of marriage, and institutes divorce in the Philippines, has been approved by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.
The consolidated version of the bill were authored by Senators Risa Hontiveros, Raffy Tulfo, Robin Padilla, Pia Cayetano, and Imee Marcos.
Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and Senators Grace Poe, and Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito also signed the measure under Committee Report No. 124.
Under the bill, either or both spouses can seek a judicial decree of absolute divorce based on the following grounds:
- Five years of separation, whether continuous or broken without a judicial decree of separation, provided that the spouses are legally separated by judicial decree under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines, a two year period from the time of the issuance of the decree of legal separation will suffice;
- The commission of the crime of rape by the respondent-spouse against petitioner spouse, whether before or after the celebration of their marriage;
- Physical violence or grossly abusive conduct, provided that lesbianism, and homosexuality shall not be ground, unless either or both spouses commit marital infidelity;
- Final decree of absolute divorce obtained in a foreign jurisdiction by any Filipino citizen, regardless of who they married;
- Irreconcilable marital differences or irreparable breakdown of the marriage despite earnest efforts at reconciliation, subject to a cooling-off period of 60 days;
- A marriage annulment or dissolution, duly authorized by a church or religious entity or a marriage termination duly authorized by customs and practices traditionally recognized, accepted and observed by an indigenous cultural community (ICC) or indigenous peoples (IP) to which the parties belong.
Under the measure, the court shall provide for child support pursuant to the pertient provisions of the Family Code.
The court shall also provide for spousal support, provided that the spouse who gave cause for divorce shall not be entitled to spousal support.
Under the proposed law, any person who fails to provide court-ordered child support and/or court-ordered spousal support shall be punished by prision mayor and shall be fined in the amount of P100,000 to not more than P300,000 on top of unpaid child support and/or spousal support with compounding legal interest computed from date of default until full payment.
Based on the bill, if the spouses have agreed to reconcile at any time, the procedure under Articles 64, 65 and 66 of the Family Code of the Philippines shall apply.
A panel at the House of Representatives has also approved their version of the absolute divorce bill last year.