Cagayan de Oro lawmaker warns Belmonte not to press divorce bill

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez

MANILA, Philippines–A senior colleague on Wednesday warned Speaker Feliciano Belmonte against pushing for a divorce bill, especially with Congress having just passed the “highly divisive” reproductive health bill.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said it would be “arrogant” of the government to introduce a divorce law, soon after defeating the Roman Catholic hierarchy and prolife groups, which have been warning about the long-term problems to be purportedly caused by the RH measure.

“That’s what I call government arrogance,” he told the Inquirer. “Just because they succeeded in passing the RH bill, they’re now pushing for a divorce law. Don’t push it. You might bring the country to the moral brink.”

Belmonte on Tuesday said he was in favor of a divorce bill, saying it should be an option if a married couple’s lives were “no longer tolerable.” But he admitted it was not likely to be passed in the current Congress because lawmakers would be preoccupied by the coming midterm elections.

“I just want the idea to be there… I want that to remain in the consciousness of congressmen so at some point, we can take it up again,” he had told reporters, the day after the chamber passed House Bill No. 4244 on third and final reading.

Representatives from the Gabriela partylist group have introduced a divorce measure or House Bill No. 1799, which is pending at the committee level.

Rodriguez, who vehemently opposed the HB 4244 mainly on moral and constitutional grounds, said Belmonte was riding on the “momentum” of the RH bill to campaign for a divorce measure.

“But it’s based on a false momentum,” he said. “Imagine they just passed the RH bill on third reading and he’s now talking about divorce? I tell you, the number of infamy before was 4244. Now, it’s 1799.”

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said Congress should go easy on introducing a divorce measure, noting the Catholic Church “has taken a beating already” in light of the passage of the RH bill.

“It’s a little bit ironic it comes at a time when we’ve just gotten ourselves a new saint, we have a new cardinal, we’ve had a lot of blessings,” he told reporters. “Maybe we should be very deliberate about it because it strikes at the conscience again and… religion.”

Romualdez added: “It’s a serious mater. Let’s not use political momentum but rather let’s be deliberate about it.”

Rodriguez said the “motive” behind the campaign for an RH law, and later, a divorce measure, was clear.

“The motive really is to turn this country into a liberal society where everything is acceptable even if it is against morality and ethics, where relativism and secularism reign,” he said.

“They want to change the values system of our country and make it very liberal like many countries in Europe and the United States.”

The “dictatorship of relativism” has been a recurring warning throughout the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, a strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy especially during his term at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

“Sadly, even in countries of long-standing Christian tradition, instances of religious intolerance are becoming more numerous, especially in relation to Christianity and those who simply wear identifying signs of their religion,” he said in his Dec. 8 message for next year’s World Day of Peace.

Under the Gabriela bill, divorce could be obtained due to “irreconcilable differences that have caused the irreparable breakdown of marriage.” Another proposed ground is the “psychological incapacity” of “one or both spouses.”