Nancy Binay wants gender equality on consent to marriage of children

Sen. Nancy Binay. Photo by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Nancy Binay has sought to amend a provision on marital consent of the father to the marriage of a child aged between 18 to 21, which she said unduly prejudices women.

Binay said Article 14 of the Executive Order No. 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines clearly shows the preferred consent of the father on the marriage of child over the consent of the mother.

“There is no rational explanation for the preference for paternal marital consent. The Family Code itself recognizes that, save for certain instances, men and women, as regards their children, are partners of equal status and thus exercise joint parental authority,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This bill proposes to eliminate vestige of gender insensitive provisions of Family Code and strengthen the equality of men and women, particularly in their family relations,” she said, referring to Senate Bill No. 1952, which she filed in 2018 and is still pending before the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.

Under the existing Family Code, which took effect in August 1988, women are no longer supposed to be subservient to men and should be an equal partner in various family matters concerning parental authority, among others, according to the lady senator.

Article 14 of the Family Code states that “in case either of both of the contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous marriage, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their marriage of the father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in order mentioned.”

Binay wants to amend this into “the consent to their marriage of either parent, the guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned.”

The marriage consent of “either parent, guardian or persons having legal charge” of either or both of the contracting parties who are between the ages of 18 and 21, should suffice in applying for a marriage license, Binay said.

She said the consent shall be manifested in writing by the interested party, who personally appears before the civil registrar or in the form of affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested to before any official authorized by law to administer oaths.

The personal manifestation shall be attached to the application for a marriage license and the affidavits, Binay added. / gsg