MANILA — The House of Representatives has corrected the voting record on the third and final reading approval of House Bill 9349 or the Absolute Divorce Bill.

During Monday’s session, House Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Representative Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said that a review of the nominal voting showed 131 affirmative votes, higher than the 126 votes announced during the May 22 session. 

The number of negative votes and abstentions remained at 109 and 20 respectively.

“Based on the secretariat’s review of all the votes cast on the said House Bill, the final validated result of the nominal voting on the House Bill No. 9349 indicated 131 instead of 126 affirmative votes… Let the records reflect the said results,” Gonzales said.

No one moved to contest the correction.

The proposed measure was transmitted to the Senate last June 11.

Under the bill, 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. The bill also allows spouses, who have been separated for at least five years to file for divorce. 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.