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Persons deprived of liberty under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology - Santa Rosa marry in a mass wedding in Santa Rosa, Laguna on January 24, 2024. Mark Demayo ABS-CBN News/File

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Vivienne Gulla

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/171861802676120240124-pdl-mass-wedding-bjmp-MD-25.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Persons deprived of liberty under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology - Santa Rosa marry in a mass wedding in Santa Rosa, Laguna on January 24, 2024. &lt;em&gt;Mark Demayo ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Persons deprived of liberty under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology - Santa Rosa marry in a mass wedding in Santa Rosa, Laguna on January 24, 2024. <em>Mark Demayo ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — At least 30 faith-based organizations and religious groups signed on Monday a consolidated position paper strongly opposing measures that seek to legalize divorce in the Philippines.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/22/absolute-divorce-bill-gets-final-house-nod-1729">• Absolute divorce bill gets final House nod</a></div><p>This, a week after the House-approved Absolute Divorce Bill was transmitted to the Senate.</p><p>The groups, which included lay organizations, diocesan councils, and ecumenical groups in the country, said divorce “violates the sanctity of marriage”, “damages families”, and “degrades the marital commitment”.</p><p>&quot;The availability of a legal option for terminating a valid marriage destabilizes the marital bond, and with it, the family unit itself,” the consolidated position paper read. </p><p>&quot;Family is the basic unit of society. So kung bumagsak ang family, bumagsak ang marriages, babagsak din ‘yung society. Nakita naman natin in different countries around the world how they are struggling, kasi they allowed all these things to come into their country to destroy marriages,” Bro. Xavier Padilla of Sangguniang Layko ng Pilipinas told ABS-CBN News.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/29/-i-have-a-very-happy-family-life-cynthia-villar-rejects-divorce-bill-1244">• &#x27;I have a very happy family life&#x27;: Cynthia Villar rejects divorce bill</a> </div><p>The groups also claimed that divorce “violates” the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which recognizes marriage as “inviolable”. </p><p>“This means that marriage cannot be broken, infringed, or dishonored,” they said. </p><p>“Walang perpektong pamilya. Lahat may pagkukulang. Pero hindi dahil doon ay basta-basta na lang tayo kakalas o bibitiw sa kasal. Kasi nga ‘yun ay banal na pagsasama,” Novaliches Bishop Roberto Gaa explained.</p><p><strong>OTHER OPTIONS<br/></strong> Signatory faith-based organizations and religious groups urged legislators and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to preserve the permanent character of marriage, and instead introduce laws that will address what they called “inefficient and expensive” Declaration of Nullity process, spousal abuse, and inadequate marriage preparations.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/27/chiz-says-house-approved-divorce-bill-not-affordable-to-the-poor-1411">• Chiz says House-approved divorce bill not affordable for the poor</a></div><p>“Mayroon kasing batas against violence against women and children… ‘Yung pangangalunya… Mayroon sanang mas matindi at mas maselang paghahanda para sa pagharap sa mga concerns ng pamilya… Part of preparation for marriage is understanding the problems that we will face in marriage at ito ay magkakaroon ng sapat na paghahanda para i-resolve itong mga problemang ito,” Gaa said. </p><p>“What we can do sa Family Code is strengthen the procedures for annulment, make it cheaper,” Padilla added. </p><p>The groups committed to intensify efforts to educate, counsel and provide support to couples in order to help them prepare for and meet the demands of marital life. </p><p>“Yung plano talaga is to let the Senators and even the President know about our consolidated stand against divorce… Ibibigay namin ‘yung aming position to them,” Padilla said.</p><div><strong>DIVORCE ADVOCATE EXPLAINS</strong> </div><p>One of the principal authors of the Absolute Divorce Bill at the lower house, Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman, has denied that enacting the measure would destroy families. </p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/22/divorce-bill-won-t-destroy-families-says-lawmaker-749">• Divorce bill won’t destroy families, says lawmaker</a></div><p>He said that it is not divorce, but marital abuse, infidelity and abandonment, that ruin the relationship between husband and wife. </p><p>Lagman noted that divorce is not against the teachings of the Catholic Church, since the latter also allows dissolution of marriage. </p><p>Under House Bill 9349, the grounds for absolute divorce include the same grounds for legal separation and annulment, but divorced spouses are given the right to remarry, unlike in legal separation, and the divorce process is expected to be faster and cheaper, unlike annulment. </p><p>These include physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner or a child of the petitioner, drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, or chronic gambling, homosexuality, marital infidelity, and abandonment without justifiable cause for more than one year. </p><p>The bill also allows spouses, who have been separated for at least five years to file for divorce. </p><p>Other grounds include irreconcilable differences, other forms of domestic abuse, and when one of the spouses undergoes sex reassignment surgery or transition from one sex to another.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Pt2HThTD0Q?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The groups also claimed that divorce “violates” the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which recognizes marriage as “inviolable.”</p>

The groups also claimed that divorce “violates” the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which recognizes marriage as “inviolable.”

Religious groups sign position paper vs divorce bill

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Religious groups sign position paper vs divorce bill

Vivienne Gulla,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 17, 2024 06:13 PM PHT

Read More:

Absolute Divorce Bill

Catholic

Religious groups

faith-based organizations

annulment

Declaration of Nullity

ANC

divorce

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