Bill filed in House legalizing divorce

Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia has filed a bill that would recognize marriage annulments granted by various religious denominations in the country.

House Bill 1290, “An Act Legalizing Church Annulment or Dissolution of Certain Marriages,” states that the government does not recognize the annulment of marriages by religious groups because there is no pertinent law that allows it.

Garcia said that under the Civil Code of the Philippines, only Muslim divorces or dissolutions of marriage were recognized by the government.

Garcia said under the principle of equality before the law, there was no reason the annulment of marriages by a church or religious denomination should not be recognized by the state.

“To give credence to the principle of equality before the law, the state’s recognition of church laws is not only right but logical. The state must respect the annulment of marriage that results from the application of church laws,” he said.

Divorce had been part of the country’s legal system and was practiced among tribes in Palawan, Nueva Vizcaya, the Cordilleras, the Visayas and Mindanao.

When the New Civil Code took effect on Aug. 30, 1950, divorce was disallowed. Only legal separation was allowed.