ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Romualdez acknowledges 'conscience vote' on absolute divorce bill 

Romualdez acknowledges 'conscience vote' on absolute divorce bill 

Published May 23, 2024 03:18 pm

At A Glance

  • House Speaker Martin Romualdez described on Thursday, May 23 the plenary voting on the absolute divorce bill as a "conscience vote".
  • According to House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, the actual tally for yes votes was 131. He said there were still 109 no votes and 20 abstentions. 

IMG-d7eed6c46a2da93ca61ac0c80ffffd77-V.jpgHouse Speaker Martin Romualdez (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi--Simply put, it was a "conscience vote".

That's how House Speaker Martin Romualdez described on Thursday, May 23 the plenary voting on the absolute divorce bill, which had resulted in the third reading passage of the contentious measure the previous day.

"It was close but itwas a conscience vote," Romualdez, smiling, told reporters here during a chance interview.

During Wednesday's plenary session, it was announced that 126 House members voted "yes" to passing House Bill (HB) No.9349 on third and final reading.

This number was only 17 more that those who entered "no" vote. On top of this, there were 20 abstentions.

Curiously, the principal author of HB No.9349, Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman, gave a special shout-out to the Speaker shortly after the bill's approval was announced.

"Let me first thank the leadeeship of the House umder the atewardshp of Speaker Martin Romualdez for allowing the members to cast a comscience vote," he said.

"The collective conscience of the House through a majority vote has spoken loud and clear: enact the absolute divorce law now," added Lagman, an independent minority solon.

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/5/23/di-marunong-magbilang-lagman-defends-divorce-bill-passage-from-sotto-s-comments

Romualdez is the president of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party, which has at least 100 members in the House.

It was also learned Thursday that the proposed Act reinstituting absolute divorce garnered more affirmative votes than initially thought.

According to House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, the actual tally for yes votes was 131. He said there were still 109 no votes and 20 abstentions.

The original tally of 126-109-20 remains official for now, since the House can only move to correct its records during plenary. Congress adjourned sine die after Wednesday's session.

Related Tags

Edcel Lagman Martin Romualdez conscience vote Divorce
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.