Divorce finds no partner in Senate

The proposed divorce law being pushed by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has found no partner yet in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said on Thursday no divorce bill had been filed in the upper chamber.

Sotto said he would not support the divorce measure.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he was also not supporting a divorce bill “at the outset.”

Also opposed to a “drive-through” or “express” divorce, as practiced in the United States, was Sen. Win Gatchalian.

Gatchalian said he, too, did not believe in “no fault divorce” where anyone could just divorce a spouse because he or she did not like the other’s face.

“What we need is a clearer process and a reasonable process for our constituents to follow because the process now is quite expensive,” Gatchalian said.

Opposed outright to divorce was Sen. Joel Villanueva, who said he was pushing to make the country’s annulment laws “simplified and not antipoor.”

Sen. Francis Escudero, who had his previous marriage annulled, said he favored “making the existing process of annulment more affordable and accessible.”