THE House committee on family relations on Wednesday, February 5, approved three measures that seek to legalize divorce in the Philippines.
House Bill 100, authored by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, will be combined with two other bills authored by Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas and Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez.
A similar measure was approved by the House on third and final reading under the 17th Congress, but failed to get the support of the Senate.
Lagman said it was the farthest that any bill of this nature reached the legislative mill.
“What was even more astounding was the fact that representatives crossed lines to support measure, even after President Duterte’s spokesperson announced that the President does not suppprt any bill allowing the dissolution of marriage,” Lagman said.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said that although he personally does not believe divorce to be the solution to troubled marriages, he will allow free and open debate on the divorce bills.
“Some believe that divorce is the solution, some, like me, do not believe, but we are not stopping any of the committees from discussing all of these bills,” Cayetano said. (SunStar Philippines)