Philippine Lawmakers Pass Bill Legalizing Divorce
The Philippine House of Representatives yesterday approved a bill that legalizes divorce in a limited range of circumstances, six years after a similar law stalled in the Senate.
The Absolute Divorce Bill, which lays out a number of instances in which divorce is permissible – a full list is here – narrowly passed its third reading by a slim margin of 126 to 109 votes, with 20 abstentions, The Inquirer reported.
The Philippines is the only place outside the Vatican where divorce is outlawed, largely due to the influence of the Catholic Church. As a result, pro-divorce activists say, marriages are extremely hard to escape, even in cases of spousal abuse.
People wanting to end their marriage are forced into a slow and costly legal process, which involves requesting a court for an annulment or a declaration that the nuptials were never valid to begin with. This can be tricky to prove, and the government can appeal any decision. According to the AFP news agency, this has spawned a genre of scams promising quick and easy access to the necessary court ruling.
https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/philippine-lawmakers-pass-bill-legalizing-divorce/