Lagman glad over House approval of divorce bill: Victory is still victory

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman cannot help but smile after the proposed reinstitution of divorce — a measure he has pushed for and defended consistently — was approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives.

According to Lagman, he would have been happy if House Bill (HB) No. 9349 or the proposed Absolute Divorce Act was approved with even just a single vote advantage.

“Unang-una (First of all), any victory — whether it’s slim or not — is still a victory.  And this is a resounding victory for the absolute divorce bill,” Lagman said in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Wednesday, after the results of the voting was announced at the plenary.

HB No. 9349 was approved with 126 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, 109 in the negative, and 20 abstentions.

READ: House approves divorce bill on final reading 

While the victory may be slim — a lead of only 17 votes — Lagman said that is already enough, and can be considered a huge lead in a competitive basketball game.

“Surprised?  I was expecting na mananalo itong aming panukala even by one vote, masaya na ako basta manalo.  Eh 126 eh, 17 votes yata ‘yong lamang.  Eh maganda na ‘yon, kung sa PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) magandang score ‘yon, ‘di ba?” he said, eliciting laughter among members of the media.

(Surprised?  I was expecting that our proposal would win, even if by one vote I am already happy as long as we win.  We got 126 eh, that’s a 17-vote lead.  That’s already good, for the PBA that’s a good score, right?)

“Oh sa NBA (National Basketball Association).  Eh malaki nang lamang ‘yong 17 votes,” he added.

(Or in the NBA.  That’s already a big lead, 17 points.)

Lagman was the main sponsor of HB No. 9349, which means he — despite being a member of the Minority — defended the bill from staunch critics of the bill.

With regards to whether the Senate will consider the divorce bill after the sine die adjournment — or when session resumes late July — Lagman said the election of a new Senate president in Senator Francis Escudero may be favorable for the proposal.

“We hope the counterpart bill in the Senate — it is ripe for plenary debates a long time ago — will also be tackled and approved so that we could meet in a conference committee, and I think it would be an easy conference because the House version and the Senate version have very few dissimilarities.  They are very identical,” he said.

“I think if there’s any impact (Escudero’s election), it’s favorable, because for a long time under the previous leadership, the divorce bill did not move in the Senate.  Hopefully it will move faster and moreso, that the majority leader has been quoted as saying he’s in favor of the divorce bill.  Unlike his predecessor who was against the bill […] So the change in leadership is favorable to the divorce bill,” he added.

READ: Filipinos demand right to divorce: ‘We want to break free’ 

HB No. 9349 is the first bill in the 19th Congress to almost split the House evenly as typically, only three to five members of the minority vote against bills being pushed by the Majority — sometimes including Lagman himself and members of the Makabayan bloc.

But for Wednesday, Lagman was part of the majority, along with other lawmakers who believed that a more efficient way to end broken marriages was needed.