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.