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Senator Panfilo Lacson said he would rather keep mum in the meantime on the proposed divorce law than face the wrath of his wife.
“Ako hindi pa ako ready to decide kasi baka bugbugin ako ng asawa ko… so quiet na muna. Let’s wait for the deliberations,” Lacson, former head of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said in jest during the Kapihan sa Senado on Thursday.
The senator was reacting to a bill being pushed by the Gabriela partylist in the House of Representatives seeking to legalize divorce in the country.
“Well, effectively we have divorce, yung annulment,” Lacson said of the bill.
He explained, “Ni-relax na rin yung mga requirements for an annulment kaya lang it takes a longer time than divorce. Itong features ng divorce bill na pinapasa ng partylist group sa House parang isa na lang dun sa isang requirement, pwede ng ma-fulfill, pwede ng mag divorce.”
Under the Gabriela proposal, a couple may enter into a divorce if at least one of five conditions enumerated in the measure was met.
READ: Gabriela refiles divorce bill
Lacson though acknowledged that while the requirements for annulment were more relaxed, getting a divorce would be faster and less expensive.
“Sa annulment, sometimes it takes so many years, umaabot pa sa Court of Appeals. Kung hahabulin pa ng (Solicitor General) lalong hahaba at saka magastos. But yung effects halos pareho na rin because pagka may annulment pwede nang mag-remarry,” he said./rga