PRE - INTRODUCTION:
Ladies and gentlemen, to my co-students, to the
people over the internet watching, and especially to Mr.
Harold Quitoriano, the chairperson, thank you for this
opportunity, Sir, and a pleasant afternoon to all of you. I
am Hannah Yap, and I uphold the role of the first speaker
of the opposition side, delivering the necessities while our
second speaker here will tackle about the beneficiality,
and the third speaker on behalf of the practicality in
today's debate pertaining to Resolved: That absolute
divorce is legalized in the Philippines. There are 8
key terms that we would like to define prior to the
discourse of the topic: DIVORCE, SHOULD, NOT, BE,
LEGALIZED, IN, THE, PHILIPPINES. They say that
ignorance is bliss. I hope you already have your
lunches with you as we embark on the journey of
determining whether or not a divorce law is a
requirement or necessitous among Filipinos. Because this
is an academic discussion, we on the negative side would
refrain from utilizing any biblical quotations because it
would detract from the debate's atmosphere.
POST – INTRODUCTION:
Just 3 months ago, on the 17th of August, 2021, the
Philippine government stated that the House of
Representatives' Committee on Population and Family
Relations had approved a bill proposing the legalization of
divorce in the Philippines led by Lagman, the principal
author, after House Bill (HB) No. 100, the first measure on
absolute divorce in the 18th Congress, which was filed on
July 1, 2019, while three divorce bills (HB Nos. 100, 838,
and 2263) were referred to the committee on July 29,
2019. It states that the Philippines and the Vatican are
the only two sovereign states in the world that still
prohibit divorce. Its legislation covers the following
grounds:
Separation of the spouses for at least five
years at the time the petition for divorce is
filed.
Gender reassignment surgery or transitions
from one sex to another by one of the spouses.
Irreconcilable marital differences.
Domestic or marital abuse.
A divorce decree obtained abroad by one of the
spouses.
In contrary to the legalization of a divorce law in the
Philippines, in accordance to Nicolas & De Vega Law
Offices and SAKLAW, in parlance, there are three
Petitions, which a spouse can file for the dissolution
of his or her marriage. It would be fair enough to
recognize that there are 3 legal antidotes that are
already legislated in the Philippines and has always been
there for Filipinos for an approximate amount of 75
years.
These remedies are not interchangeable, and you
cannot pursue any or all of them without first meeting the
legal requirements, which is a tedious procedure
conforming to the prevention of fraud, and further
evaluation for frail motives for the goal of aborting
a marriage. You must first identify why you are
seeking the remedy, and this determination will
serve as the basis for submitting the right petition.
The three remedies available under the Family Code
are: Legal Separation, Annulment of Marriage, and
Declaration of Nullity of Marriage.
So, how does the three differ?
ARGUMENT:
Legal separation Under Art. 55 of the Family
Code is a legal remedy for couples suffering
from a problematic marriage. In legal
separation, the couple is allowed to live apart
and separately own assets. However, legally
separated couples are not permitted to
remarry, since their marriage is still
considered valid and subsisting. Legal
separation dissolves the property relations of
the spouses and removes the guilty party’s
capacity to inherit from the innocent party.
Petition for Legal Separation
Under Art. 55 of the Family Code, a petition
for legal separation may be filed on any of the
following grounds: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, FINAL
JUDGMENT SENTENCING THE RESPONDENT TO
IMPRISONMENT OF MORE THAN SIX YEARS, EVEN IF
PARDONED, DRUG ADDICTION AND ALCOHOLISM
1.Repeated physical violence or grossly
abusive conduct directed against the
petitioner, a common child, or a child of the
petitioner;
2.Physical violence or moral pressure to compel
the petitioner to change religious or political
affiliation;
3.Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the
petitioner, a common child, or a child of the
petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or
connivance in such corruption or inducement;
4.Final judgment sentencing the respondent to
imprisonment of more than six years, even if
pardoned;
5.Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the
respondent;
6.Lesbianism or homosexuality of the
respondent;
7.Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent
bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines
or abroad;
8.Sexual infidelity or perversion;
9.Attempt by the respondent against the life of
the petitioner; or
10. Abandonment of petitioner by respondent
without justifiable cause for more than one
year.
The law on the matter is, if one spouse is
psychologically incapacitated to comply
with essential marital obligations, the
marriage can be annulled; and both
parties, even the spouse who is
incapacitated, can marry again. It must
be proven that the defect existed before
the marriage and continued during the
marriage.
Andal, the court defined “psychological
incapacity” as a personal condition that
prevents a spouse from complying with
fundamental marital obligations toward a
specific partner and that may have
existed at the time of marriage but
became evident only through behavior
subsequent to the marriage ceremony.
Petition for Annulment of Marriage
For Annulment of Marriage, Art. 45 of the
Family Code provides that a marriage may be
annulled for any of the following causes, existing
at the time of the marriage:
1. That the party in whose behalf it is sought to
have the marriage annulled was eighteen years of
age or over but below twenty-one, and the
marriage was solemnized without the consent of
the parents, guardian or person having
substitute parental authority over the party, in
that order, unless after attaining the age of
twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the
other and both lived together as husband and wife;
2. That either party was of unsound mind, unless
such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited
with the other as husband and wife;
3. That the consent of either party was obtained by
fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full
knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud,
freely cohabited with the other as husband and
wife;
4. That the consent of either party was obtained by
force, intimidation or undue influence, unless the
same having disappeared or ceased, such party
thereafter freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife;
5. That either party was physically incapable of
consummating the marriage with the other, and
such incapacity continues and appears to be
incurable; or 6. That either party was afflicted with
a sexually-transmissible disease found to be
serious and appears to be incurable.
Petition for Declaration of Nullity of
Marriage
For Declaration of Nullity of Marriage, Art. 35
of Executive Order No. 209, or otherwise known as
the Family Code of the Philippines, enumerates the
instances where marriages are void from the
beginning, to wit:
1. Those contracted by any party below eighteen
years of age even with the consent of parents or
guardians;
2. Those solemnized by any person not legally
authorized to perform marriages unless such
marriages were contracted with either or both
parties believing in good faith that the solemnizing
officer had the legal authority to do so;
3. Those solemnized without license;
4. Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not
failing under Article 41;
5. Those contracted through mistake of one
contracting party as to the identity of the other;
6. Those subsequent marriages that are void under
Article 53;
7. Under Art. 36, psychological incapacity, which
states that a marriage contracted by any party
who, at the time of the celebration, was
psychologically incapacitated to comply with the
essential marital obligations of marriage, shall
likewise be void even if such incapacity becomes
manifest only after its solemnization. (As amended
by Executive Order 227;
8. Incestuous Marriages under Article 37 of the
Family Code, which include those between
ascendants and descendants of any degree; and
between brothers and sisters, whether of the full
or half-blood;
9. Marriages which are void for reasons of public
policy under Article 38, which include:
Between collateral blood relatives whether
legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil
degree;
Between step-parents and step-children;
Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
Between the adopting parent and the adopted
child;
Between the surviving spouse of the adopting
parent and the adopted child;
Between the surviving spouse of the adopted
child and the adopter;
Between an adopted child and a legitimate
child of the adopter;
Between adopted children of the same
adopter; and
Between parties where one, with the intention
to marry the other, killed that other person’s
spouse, or his or her own spouse.
