‘Divorce in camouflage’
The bill allowing for the dissolution of marriages is a thinly-veiled form of divorce.
An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines made this statement as he slammed House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s proposal as “divorce in camouflage.”
“The dissolution of marriage is when the marriage bond is rendered ineffective. That is divorce — whatever you call it — in camouflage,” said Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, the judicial vicar of the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal.
Under Alvarez’s bill, couples will be allowed to jointly petition a court for the dissolution of their marriage, sparing them of the tedious process of annulment.
The Catholic Church has been strongly opposing moves to legalize divorce in the Philippines, which is the only country in the world apart from the Vatican which does not allow divorce.
For the Church, allowing couples to divorce is tantamount to allowing a breakdown of the family, with the children as the ultimate losers.
“The Speaker does not seem to know what he is talking about. He says that it is not divorce. Then what is it?” Cruz said.
