Divorce in PH won’t be ‘quickie’ — House panel
Credit to Author: Divina Nova Joy Dela Cruz| Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 06:30:58 +0000
DIVORCE in the Philippines will not be a “quickie” process to dismantle marriages, the chairman of the House of Representatives’ Technical Working Group (TWG) said on Wednesday.
“This is not a quick process because there is a judicial proceeding wherein the judge will be the one to grant or deny a petition for approved divorce,” said Rep. Edcel Lagman after the TWG meeting of the House Committee on Population and Family Relations.
He added that there would be a cooling off period for 6 months for the Court to try to reconcile the parties.
The Albay 1st District Representative stressed that even if divorce was enacted into law, the State still has a mandate to protect the sanctity of the marriage and the family as social institutions.
He said that while divorce would provide relief for spouses from an abusive marriage, it is only for cases where the marriage has become irremediably damaged.
The TWG is currently consolidating House Bills (HB), 100 authored by Lagman, HB 838 by Gabriela Women’s Party-list and the Makabayan bloc and HB 2263 by Davao del Norte First District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.