Cynthia Villar vows to push for measure vs ‘unjust abandonment’ of husbands
Former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar INQUIRER PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines – Former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar on Thursday vowed to push for a measure against “unjust abandonment” by a husband should she win a Senate seat in the May 2013 elections.
Villar, who was a member of the House of Representatives for three terms or nine consecutive years, said she would amend the Family Code so that the husband would be required to continue to support the abandoned wife and children.
“I am not in favor of passing a divorce law. What I want is to propose changes to our Family Code to make it more adaptable to the problems of ordinary Filipino families,” she said in a statement.
“Simple mechanisms,” Villar said, should be adopted “to obligate the husband to continue support to his family.”
“There should no longer be a need for a wife to file an action in court which entails a long and expensive litigation process just to get support for the family,” she said.
This would definitely be an added burden, she said, to the woman who was abandoned by her husband.
“Imagine the anguish, mental and emotional, and the physical stress that a wife has to go through– going to court while attending to the needs of their children,’ Villar said.
During her stint in the House, Villar said she had always worked for pieces of legislation upholding the rights of women, children and the family.
And she said she wants to continue her advocacy when she gets elected in the Senate.
