Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua (Facebook)

Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua believes that it's "doable" for the 24-member Senate to muster enough votes to pass a pro-divorce bill. 

Chua, who voted for the passage of the proposed Absolute Divorce Law in the House of Representatives, took into account reports that there are five senators in favor of divorce and five senators against it. 

"Let us assume for the sake of argument that count is accurate. There are 24 senators. 24 minus 10 equals 14. Only 13 votes are needed for the divorce bill to pass in the Senate. 13 minus five equals eight, Only eight more votes are needed to make the five become 13," he said. 

"Convincing eight more senators to vote for the divorce bill is a doable or viable proposition," noted Chua after polishing his arithmetic.

"But time is not on the side of the divorce bill because only one regular session remains in the 19th Congress. Those against divorce in the Senate can simply delay action or sit on the bill. Some might be thinking they can 'kick the can' down the road, so that it will be up to the 20th Congress to tackle it. But that means the divorce bill will go back to square one," he said.

"Even if by some miracle, the Senate passes the divorce bill by the slimmest of margins, pro-divorce legislators have the specter of the veto power in the hands of the President," Chua said. 

"The same people who have been against the divorce bill will plead to the President to veto the divorce bill. Trusting in the fairness of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, I believe those who are pro-divorce will be heard in Malacanang," he said. 

Chua was the only one among Manila's six congressmen who voted in favor of House Bill (HB) No.9349 or the proposed Absolute Divorce Law during plenary session last May 22.