Malta—a nation that is majorly populated by Roman Catholics—announced that they are legalizing divorce. One Deborah Schembri said, “With or without divorce, marriages are breaking down, children are born out of wedlock and couples are cohabiting.”
Likewise, the Philippines once again opened its floor at the Revision of Codes to reassess the divorce bill passed by the Gabriela Women’s Party-list. It seems that Representative Luz Ilagan has the same justification as Schembri as to why the divorce bill should be passed, “I appeal to my colleagues in Congress to… give Filipino couples in irreparable and unhappy marriages this option.”
And indeed, the Filipinos have spoken. At least, that is what the Social Weather Stations (SWS) say. They conducted face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults all over the nation about their stand on divorce last March 4-7, 2011. The results show that 50% of Filipinos agree while 33% disagree with allowing separated and irreconcilable couples divorce.
But is it not that 1,200 respondents are a far cry from the millions of Filipino voices and opinions waiting to be acknowledged? But more than the background of the survey, President Ninoy Aquino’s statement on the divorce bill surprised me. I think this is another strike at how he proved people right that he is a lazy leader. I gathered from an ABS-CBN news report online that he said divorce is not his priority at this time. But shouldn’t “everything” be the president’s priority? After all, “everything” and the welfare of his citizens—the Filipinos are at his hands? But let us not let my cynical attitude towards the president run all over the place. After all, he did redeem himself by saying he does not want to rush the process of the divorce bill just like those Las Vegas weddings where you can wed in the morning and get divorced that same afternoon. Let’s hope then that he does not resort to a Las Vegas wedding if his number one goal to get married before his term ends isn’t fulfilled.
Based on news reports, although 50% of Filipinos are in favor of divorce, it is still those who are against it—besides the Catholic church—that are making the headlines. Many politicians besides PNoy are still skeptical that divorce will be legalized in the Philippines. But it seems that these judgments made by politicians like Ilocos Norte’s Rodolfo Fariñas are more based on personal relationships than an opinion that represents his people, “palagay ko ito di lulusot sa floor dahil magagalit misis at mga mister kasi sasabihin may intensyon ka diyan.”
Well, I think it is good that there are balanced forces on the decision-making of the divorce bill. The longer I am immersed in articles, quotes, reports and books about divorce, the more I am confused at what my stand is. But for now, this is the current progress happening to the divorce bill being revised in the Philippines. The Philippines is a nation strongly guided and influenced by Roman Catholicism and The Vatican, so I think it is already inevitable that when it comes to rules and regulations that involve Christian morality, the church will always step in.
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110602/lf_afp/lifestylephilippinesmarriagereligiondivorce
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2011/june/2/jennyortuoste.isx&d=2011/june/2
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/06/02/11/divorce-bill-not-priority-%E2%80%93-pnoy
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/06/01/11/divorce-bill-likely-be-challenged-sc
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/06/01/11/50-pinoys-back-divorce-sws
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