MANILA, Philippines—After conducting just one hearing on Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros said her committee is now ready to come up with a report for the “dissolution of marriage” bill.
“Yes, ready na po ako mag-draft ng committee report pending na lang ilan pang submissions tulad [ng] mula sa Department of Justice,” Hontiveros said after the hearing of the Senate committee on women, which she chairs.
If the term “divorce” is contentious, then “dissolution of marriage” would be issued in the committee report.
“Dissolution of marriage would be acceptable already to the advocates,” she said.
“Sabi ng mga advocates, kung contentions ang salitang divorce, kung baga Shakespeare yan di ba? A rose by any other name.”
“As long as saklaw ng dissolution of mariage bill yung mga grounds nila sa paghingi ng second chance then papasok sila sa ganitong proseso para lang makamit yang second chances na yan.”
Even her colleagues in the Senate, she said, are more inclined to support the “dissolution of marriage.”
“Batay sa pakikipag usap ko sa mga kasamang senador, there is more openness on these bills than other contentious bills,” Hontivero said.
‘I don’t have the exact numbers right now pero in terms of sensing, I do sense mas may openness dito sa dissolution of marriage bill kumpara sa iba pang mga contentious bills,” she further said.
Should there be calls for extensive discussion on the issue, Hontiveros said she is willing to hold more hearings or technical working group meetings before elevating it to the plenary.
She said various options are still open for further discussion on the proposed measure. /jpv
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