Ties that unbind: will the Philippines finally embrace divorce?

Lawmakers have been trying to pass a divorce law since 2005, but continue to face resistance in the Catholic-majority country

Philippine lawmakers have refiled a long-delayed bill legalising divorce in the country just a few days into the new Congress after its passage fell short in the previous term, with divorce advocates hopeful that the legislation will finally see the light of day.

Lawmakers have been trying to pass a divorce law since 2005, but continue to face resistance in the Catholic-majority country.

Nearly 79 per cent of Filipinos are Roman Catholic and the Philippines and the Vatican are the only countries in the world that do not have divorce laws. Annulment exists but is a tedious and often expensive process. Muslims are currently the only Filipinos able to legally divorce under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

As the 20th Congress opened on Monday, three representatives filed two measures that aim to revive the absolute divorce bill that the House of Representatives passed earlier but ultimately languished in the Senate as conservative legislators and religious leaders vowed to fight the bill.

Representatives Antonio Tinio and Renee Louise Co of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and Kabataan partylists filed House Bill 210, while Jonathan Clement Abalos of the 4Ps partylist filed House Bill 108. Both versions establish the grounds for granting absolute divorce. These include physical violence, drug addiction, homosexuality and other factors related to the annulment of marriage under the country’s Family Code.

Divorce advocates said lawmakers had neglected the divorce bill in favour of other issues, such as the crimes linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), despite divorce being “a national issue”.

Cici Leuenberger-Jueco, convenor of the lobbying group Divorce for the Philippines Now, shared their group’s struggles over the bill’s passage last year.

“We were there at the [House of Representatives] plenary hall during the second and third reading. We did not sleep; we were there every day for five months. Our group only had 20 members present, but the rest were … priests, nuns and [Protestant] pastors,” Leuenberger-Jueco told This Week in Asia.

When the House of Representatives passed and submitted the bill to the Senate in August, the group took to the chamber to rally for it to be made law.

“We were at the Senate the following August and we started rallying until December. January came around, nothing happened. The bill had already been buried underneath other issues such as Pogos, extrajudicial killings and the human trafficking issues linked to Alice Guo,” Leuenberger-Jueco said.

‘The whole world calls it divorce’

The divorce lobbyist added that part of the delay also came from senators taking issue with calling it a divorce bill, preferring to drop the word “divorce” in favour of “dissolution of marriage”.

“When we checked the Senate version of the bill, the name had already been changed to ‘Dissolution of Marriage’ bill but kept the grounds from the House version. So it’s literally divorce, just under a different name,” she said.

“The whole world calls it ‘divorce’, and only the Philippines would call it a dissolution … Why are they so afraid of the term ‘divorce’? How should I describe my marriage status, that it was dissolved – like it melted? That can’t be.”

Ann Angala, founder of Break the Cycle Philippines, a movement to protect victims of gender-based violence, was initially hopeful about the bill. “When the bill was passed on to the Senate, we were pleading with them to protect us – to grant us the freedom we so desperately need. But instead, the divorce bill was ignored,” she said.

She separated from her husband in 2016, following 18 years of an abusive marriage. “It was deeply painful, a harsh reminder that even if I have survived personal abuse, there is a deeper, systemic abuse that we Filipinos continue to endure, especially from the very institutions meant to protect us,” she told This Week in Asia.

Angala, who works with women and children who suffer “immense” psychological damage from domestic abuse, said: “It’s not just personal trauma – it’s a national crisis that continues to be neglected.”

A new hope?

Despite the setbacks, advocates hold out hope that the newly elected lawmakers may be able to sustain the momentum of the bill.

On Thursday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr indicated that he had no clear stance on divorce yet, but was planning to study the refiled bills, according to press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro.

In his bill, Abalos said the end of a marriage “occurs not due to any defect or omission at the time of the marriage ceremony, but rather as a result of circumstances that arise during the marriage itself”.

“The bill aims to provide spouses in irreparably broken marriages a legal avenue for dissolution, hereby safeguarding children from marital strife and empowering vulnerable spouses, particularly in abusive relationships, to rebuild their lives,’’ he added, calling it “pro-women”.

About 17.5 per cent of Filipino women between 15 and 49 years old have reported experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their partners, Abalos said in the bill’s explanatory statement. “Further, one in four Filipino women report experiencing gender-based violence, with at least 41 per cent … choosing not to seek assistance.”

Meanwhile, Tinio and Co’s divorce bill seeks to restore divorce as a right, on the basis that the right to enter into a marriage contract should have a reciprocal entitlement to end it. Filipino couples would make use of the law responsibly, they said, adding that this assertion “stems from the experiences of Filipino families that show that separation is usually the last resort”.

Angala said that the delay in passing the bill lay with the senators. “Despite their personal and privileged situation … they are still telling a different story and not passing the bill,” she said in reference to Senate President Francis Escudero, whose first marriage was annulled. He is now married to Filipino celebrity Heart Evangelista.

“Women and men who have experienced violence and abuse in their marriage deserve emancipation and a second chance … just like Senator Escudero.”

Leuenberger-Jueco said that her group would keep pushing for the divorce law to be passed. “Perhaps last year we became too complacent after it got passed in the House of Representatives,” she said. “This first year of the 20th Congress, we will start lobbying. We will no longer wait for them to call us. We will go door-to-door and do the groundwork.”