De Lima seeks amendment to Family Code

Senator Leila De Lima has filed a resolution urging the Senate to amend the Family Code of the Philippines in order to have equal responsibilities between parents.

Senate Resolution No. 1730 seeks equal rights to the decision-making of parents, particularly on the upbringing of their children.

Some articles in the Family Code state the inequality of power and privilege between the husband and wife, the senator said.

“This bill seeks to rectify the inequality in decision-making in the household by amending certain provisions in the Family Code of the Philippines,” De Lima said in a statement on Saturday.

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“These provisions are deemed patriarchal and detrimental to establishing the status of married women as partners and equals in their own homes. Progressive amendments more apt with the current times are thus introduced in this bill,” she added.

Among the provisions that the senator said promote gender inequality and which she wanted to revise were Articles 14, 12, 124, 211, and 225 of the Family Code.

The Family Code of the Philippines was put into order by virtue of Executive Order No. 209, signed in 1987 by then-President Corazon Aquino.