AN ILONGGA lawmaker who is long known for her active support on the reproductive health bill believes there is no constitutional prohibition on the passage of divorce law in the country.
Expressing her strong support for the passage of a divorce law in Congress, Iloilo first district Representative Janette L. Garin said that "if our Muslim brothers are granted the right to avail divorce under Presidential Decree 1083, I believe we should not deny the same right to our Christian brothers."
Garin, however, emphasized that the issue is on the propriety and wisdom of passing the law, which depends solely with the legislature.
The sanctity of marriage as an inviolable social institution should be preserved. This preservation on the other hand, can still be maintained even with the passage of divorce law, provided that the law should provide stringent and exclusive grounds, she said.
Garin said reality would tell that there are married couples who had been separated de facto for say, 10 years. "So why insist on the legal existence of the marriage that is no longer working?" In this instance, she said, divorce is proper.
She also said that when wives are repeatedly battered by their husbands, but could not end her ties with him because there is no available ground for her to end the relationship, "legislation should come in."
"If the grounds provided for in the divorce law is clear, reasonable, stringent and exclusive, to the effect that irreparable damage was caused to the marriage and that the reconciliation between the married couple is highly improbable, I feel responsible to say yes to the passage of a divorce law and rely on the good faith of the judiciary to grant or deny the petition," Garin said. (LCP)