• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Five legislators from Negros Occidental supported the passage of House Bill (HB) 9349, or the proposed “Absolute Divorce Act”, while three others registered their opposition, records of the House of Representatives showed.
The Absolute Divorce Act was approved on third and final reading by the Lower House last week, receiving 131 affirmative votes, 109 negative votes and 20 abstentions.
Those from Negros Occidental who voted in favor of HB 9349 were Abang Lingkod partylist Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano, Rep. Gerardo Valmayor (1st district), Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez (3rd district), Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer (4th district) and Rep. Greg Gasataya (Bacolod City, Lone District).
Those in the negative side were Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (2nd district), Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo (5th district) and Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (6th district).
For his part, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Sunday (May 26) that “there is no need for this divorce law”.
HB 9349 seeks to provide absolute divorce as a legal remedy for irreparably broken marriages under specific grounds and judicial processes, with the goal of sparing children from the emotional strain of parental dispute and allowing divorced individuals to remarry.
It lays down the comprehensive guidelines for absolute divorce petitions, encompassing grounds, procedures, and the effects on custody, property division, and support.
The proposed law also includes provisions for reconciliation methods, fines, and community-based initiatives, which will be supervised by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
It gives Filipino spouses a fourth mode of separation on top of the three methods allowed under the country’s Family Code – legal separation, annulment of marriage, and declaration of nullity of marriage. | GB
