SENATE BILL NO.

67

AN ACT RECOGNIZING THE FOREIGN DECREE OF TERMINATION OF MARRIAGE AND

ALLOWING ITS SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION WITH THE PHILIPPINE CIVIL REGISTRY,
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 209, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

This bill insinuates that Filipinos duly married to foreign nationals shall be allowed to remarry
once the latter had acquired a divorce decree, even in the absence of a judicial declaration on
our end.

While it may seem beneficial at first glance since it simplifies the process, I shall rule in the
negative as to its passage because I deem judicial declaration essential and inviolable as it
reduces the risk of marriage being taken advantage of.

In the event that this bill becomes a law, the truest sense of the word “marriage” will be
violated; that anyone who wants to marry a foreign national may do so even without the full
understanding of the context of marriage and suddenly just sets aside the union as one sees it
fit in his/ her own perception; that the Filipino spouse may just induce his/ her partner to file a
divorce so they may both remarry even without a ground and an acknowledgment of the
Philippine law; that it does not fully protect the best interests of their children within their
marriage, assuming there is any.

If the divorce decree acquired by a foreign spouse will be absolutely binding to a Filipino
spouse, then it simply circumvents the express provision and very essence of our law with
regard to marriage, it being a “special contract of permanent union,” ​Art.1, Family Code of the
Philippines.

/mjsbotio
 SENATE BILL NO. 288

AN ACT INSTITUTING ABSOLUTE DIVORCE AND DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE IN THE

PHILIPPINES
______________________________________________________________________________

SENATE BILL NO. 356

AN ACT INSTITUTING ABSOLUTE DIVORCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

I shall submit in a specific provision of SBN 288-- that annulment is, in fact, tedious, adversarial,
and expensive; nonetheless, I stay firm on my stand that these adjectives just equate the
essence of marriage. It only delivers the message that marriage is undoubtedly important; that
it is not just a game of any sort which anyone may play with or enter into as he/she so pleases;
that it is, truly and lawfully, more than just a change of one’s marital status, which separates it
from those relationship statuses in varied social media applications.

Living with the person whom you tied knot with might not be as easy and free-flowing as any
other relationships, however, it does not mean it is an impossible relationship. The main
rationale for pushing annulment over divorce is not to force people to stay in a probably
unhappy, difficult, and dysfunctional relationship they might be into (in line with SBN 356), but
to convey the message that to be in such a situation is a matter of choice and decision which
they both may work out if both of them will just meet at one end.

To make the dissolution spoonfeed-easy is to encourage taking advantage of marriage while

violating its sense of being a permanent union, and to indirectly discourage married couples to
remedy the gap.

/mjsbotio
Most disputes and crunches transpire out of one’s personal differences and preferences, and
being insistent and persistent is not the solution; being less assertive is. Relationship of any kind
is always a two-way process where one takes and the other receives, not to mention it being
reciprocal in character.

I speak these words not to burden married couples of the dissolution process, but to make
them think and rethink on preserving their marriage as it is burdensome to dissolve it, and by
keeping the dissolution process not an easy-to-reach one, many marriages, children, and
properties will most likely be kept and saved under their silent nature.

/mjsbotio
 SENATE BILL NO. 504

AN ACT RECOGNIZING THE CIVIL EFFECTS OF CHURCH ANNULMENT DECREE

Should the basis of this proposed bill is the capacity of a solemnizing officer to celebrate
marriage, is it not lawful and just enough to also include cases of articulo mortis where any ship
captain or airplane chief, and any military commander of a unit to which a chaplain is assigned,
Art. 7 (3) and (4) of the Family Code of the Philippines,​ has the special capacity to contract
marriage?

While articulo mortis is a special case of marriage, it still has its valid civil effects just similar to a
marriage contracted in a regular case, so if this bill has to be passed by its express reason of
equality, it is clearly unlawful to exclude this case, therefore, the revision of this bill’s title shall
be required where it generalizes all marriages solemnized by any of the authorized ones
provided for in the Family Code. This is an important point as not all those whose marriage was
celebrated during articulo mortis loses life after, and survive from the brink of death, hence the
valid and existing effects in their lifetime.

My main score here is equality, not just among religions, but among Filipino citizens, since it
was mentioned on its third paragraph that the enactment of such bill thus provides equality in
the eyes of the law. I partly rule in the affirmative with regard to this bill becoming a law,
however, the concerns I have raised shall be properly addressed before this officially becomes
in force.

/mjsbotio