Do you think Divorce will ever be allowed in the Philippines?

Question

Given the number of separated couples and those who are in "illegal" relationships in the country - do you think its about time Divorce be allowed in the country? It would surely guarantee child support to kids who's fathers abandoned them and make sure those who cheat are punished. What are your thoughts on this and why? Thanks in advance to all those who give serious and mature answers.

Answer 1

i don't think divorce is going to be a reality in here,as long as there is no REAL separation of state and church in our country.i hope you all understand what i mean about REAL.

Answer 2

As others mentioned, the Family Code of the Philippines has allowed Annulment. So what is the difference between Annulment and Divorce?

1. Contract of Marriage
Annulment - the contract was annulled or void... Legally there is no marriage at all from the start
Divorce - the contract is valid and binding however it would cease as of the date of the divorce... Legally there was a marriage but it ended

2. Effects on property
Annulment - what each partner brings to the marriage, each will get back for himself/herself
Divorce - Fifty-fifty if the terms of the contract of marriage is Absolute Common Ownership of Property (the common one if there is no pre-nuptial agreement for Complete Separation of Properties)...


So the end result is basically the same... It is the settlement of the property which is the major issue... So unless you are married to a rich girl/guy and you are really not after the money, annulment would be a solution for you...


And with regards abandonment and cheating, there are rules and provisions in the Family Code for that... I think infidelity is a ground for annulment...

Answer 3

How can you promote a divorce system in an country so poor that in the province P90 is a daily wage. What will the guy do to support the girl? Many young couples are still provided housing and support from either his or her parents! The husband and wife might not even be able to suppor themselves while married. Further how do you pay for the lawyers? How do you pay for the DNA testing? Yes, there's divorce through anullment of the people wealthy enough to afford such a legal system.

Also, in my experience, the divorce rate in countries with strong laws that support the children have ever increasing divorce rates. Because a woman is more likely to divorce a man if she can be assured she will be financially supported. Women who cannot afford to divorce a guy will not initiative such a process. I don't belive such laws are truly in the interest of children because most laws have no regulation as to how and what the mother does with the support money. Further, laws rarely address the issues of fatherly love and support that a child needs. It's not in the interest of children to be torn from their father's anymore than it's in their interst to be torn from their mothers.

I know a joke that put's this in perspective: A woman marries a man hoping he will change, and a man marries a woman praying she will not. Often times it's the woman who gets rid of the guy. In most cases I know the guy is happy with the girl when the meet and happy to keep her as the wife. But that' doesnt' mean he won't have gf's or that he will be nice to her. So really it's the girl who has to make the decision in most (not all) cases.

Answer 4

Annulment and legal separation are the lawful means of separating in the Philippines. The law on annulment was made in such a way that it would take a long and tedious process to get it and to give the couples a chance to make their marriage work. What more for a divorce, if a law is ever passed and promulgated?

Being a Christian country, with the church having a say on national governance, divorce in the Philippines might not stand a chance.

Answer 5

What is worst divorce or men having four and five families? The children from these families are classified as illegitimate by the Catholic Church. The annulment process of the Catholic Church is so complicated and so involved that only the rich and educated can avail themselves to it.

Every time I see President Estrada being welcomed to the front of the Catholic Church to a seat reserved for him and he is treated better than most Catholics in good standing with the Church my heart pains. I assume all of the officials of the Catholic Church in the Philippines know that President Estrada has children by more than one woman.

I recently heard President Estrada praising himself as being an honorable man. A good Catholic. He admitted to having many affairs and having many children out of marriage, but he claimed he has only one wife and she was standing next to him. He also thought it was honorable that he has always supported all his children and I would agree that is honorable. To me this is a disgrace to the Church and tells me that the Church has failed to teach the people prior to marriage what a Christian Marriage consist of. Has the Church without intending to do so sent the wrong message to President Estrada and other Catholics that sex and children outside of marriage is okay as long as you do not divorce your wife?

I have never quite understood how the Church can accept that humans make mistakes and commit all types of crimes and sins, but when it comes to marriage they have a hard time recognizing and allowing people to correct their mistake when making the wrong choice in selecting a marriage partner. You can murder someone and simply ask the Church for forgiveness and all is well, but the same is not true of a bad marriage.

When I first came to the Philippines it was difficult for me to serve Communion to men of the Church that I knew had two or three families, but I soon learned that is what I would have to do and look the other way. It became even more difficult when I wanted to sponsor a child to a Catholic School in Manila and we were turned away because the parents could not produce a marriage license. It was not known until we went to register that the man had been married when he was quite young to another woman. The head of the school said they could not admit illegitmate children to the school. The sins of the parents passed down upon the children unless you are rich and famous.

What some do not realize is even in countries where divorce is legal the Church still requires the couple to get an annulment granted by Rome. So for a government to recgonize divorce as being legal does not change the stand the Church takes on divorce and annulment. A legal State Divorce Decree is meaningless to the Church without a Church granted annulment.

Legalizing divorce does not mean men will support their children. That has been proven in the U.S.A. The ex-wife may get a ruling from the court that the man will pay child support, but enforcing it is another thing.

My opposition to not allowing divorce in a Democratic Society is that some religions and most if not all Protestant Christian religions accept divorce as long as it meets certain criteria and do not judge it wrong. So I ask you what right does any religion have to impose its "religious beliefs" upon all of society in a Democratic Government? Is the Philippines a Democratic Society or not?

In your question you stated many ignore the fact that divorce is not legal and it has not stopped men from having many families in the Philippines. If the law banning divorce is not serving any purpose why have it? If the law meant nothing to one of the leaders of your country why should it mean anything to anyone else? If divorce was legal maybe men could not act like kids in a candy store and taste all the treats because they would fear their wives would file Civil Suits against them for extra-marital affairs.

Answer 6

I strongly consider and hope that divorced should be allowed in the Philippines sooner or later solely because I care for the rights of the Filipina women to be expressed with respect.

I bet in this case the lazy men will push his self to work hard for himself if not for his family. Nowadays, the women are the ones taking the responsibilities to earn money for a living and support the whole family.

Yes it is true that the church won't agree but as an individual who doesn’t want to suffer in any form of harassment in the hands of an unfaithful, abusive, and manipulative husband (I hope my husband is not like that) would like to seek justice for an equal rights.

Why do we always have to consider the opinion of the church when we are suffering from domestic violence? Sometimes we have to act to being selfish while in fact we should be. Our aim of marrying someone is build a family with love and live in a blissful life together with the men we chose and the children we made.

Answer 7

I'm not really sure. It's a possibility. But since it's a catholic country, it might take a while. Divorce is frowned upon by the catholic church. Is divorced allowed in Spain? They're a catholic country too, right?

For now, annulment is enough. And with annulment, you need to really want to be separated to actually be separated.

Seriously, before you get married, be sure.

Answer 8

Not in the near future.

Divorce is not allowed because for one thing, the Philippines is made up of mostly Christians (Catholics) which does not recognise divorce.

Also, divorce seems to be a relatively easier way out of a marriage, thus an annulment is the only way to go to make sure as much as possible that people who enter into a marriage would seriously consider the consequences.

As the tagalog saying goes (in english), marriage is not something like hot rice that you spit out if your mouth gets burnt.

Answer 9

Catholic church is infulencial in phillipines theres no way they will make that happen besides about those people whos in charge right now is planning to run next election and so on and so on..so most of the Filipinos ae catholics if they make such decision which the catholics dont agree thats like 3/4 of the Filipinos votes will be gone thats an easier explanation..oh an btw i agree with divorce too

Answer 10

I believe you're right that the reason that they do not want to legalize same sex divorce is because by so doing they would be legitimizing same sex marriage indirectly. Also, easily obtained divorces could also lead to more people seeking marriage licenses for the legal benefits without being committed to the long haul commitment.

Answer 11

The government could well consider it BUT the church hierarchy - which is still very influential in the Philippines - would definitely lobby against it. If at all it would ever be allowed in the Philippines, it probably would NOT happen in my lifetime.