House Bill No. 1799

For the past few days, I’ve been talking about divorce. If you are wondering why, it is because there is a controversial proposed divorce bill that is being debated here in the Philippines. The divorce issue took the spotlight from the RH Bill debate which is still left unresolved. The debate, on both issues RH Bill and Divorce Bill, is between the Church and the government.

The full text of the Divorce Bill that I was talking about can be found here:
 http://www.scribd.com/doc/35768034/GABRIELA-PARTY-LIST-S-HB-1799-Divorce-Bill

The Philippines is the only country in the world that does not legalize divorce. Interesting isn’t it? If you are wondering why, it is because of the Filipino culture and religion. Filipinos believe that marriage is a sacred union which was done before God. It is a commitment to the law and God. Filipinos and, I believe this is true even to any kind of race in this world, are sad or it breaks their hearts when they hear marriages that breaks up. They would try their best to help resolve and save the marriage of the people they know and love. Their culture, religion and belief keeps married couples together. The dominant religion here in the Philippines is Christianity. The influence of the Church to the Filipinos is so strong that it influences how they think and act.

The interesting thing here is that Italy, which is known as the seat of Roman Catholicism, has already legalized divorce on 1974. Spain, which brought Catholicism in the Philippines, has already legalized divorce on 1981. Poland, which is the birth place of Pope John Paul, has legalized divorce on 1965. In truth, divorce is already permitted in the Philippines only if the parties are Muslim. So, what’s the issue on Religion? Divorce is only permitted for Muslims, while the Non Muslims or Christians are only permitted to have an annulment, which the Catholic Church and the State approves.

As I have said in my previous blogs, I am against divorce. However, if people would ask me if I would support or be against the Divorce Bill, I would say that I would support it. Why? Because knowing that Filipinos are God-fearing and the culture that they have. I strongly believe that they would not dare to file a divorce unless it is necessary. I know that not all Filipinos think this way, but in my point of view, there are cases wherein divorce is really necessary. Divorce is always the Last Option. Unfortunately, there are people who really needs to take this option.

I am not saying that I am supporting divorce, but what I am saying is that people need to have choices. God gave us the gift of free will, and it is our job to choose on the better path.

There are positive and negative points on everything. One of the negative side of legalizing divorce is that people might abuse it. People might forget the sacredness of marriage and take divorce for granted. They might think that marriage is a trial-and-error thing that they would just file a divorce if the marriage would not work.

I will discuss the pros and cons of divorce on my next blog entry.