House-approved absolute divorce bill transmitted to Senate
The absolute divorce bill the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading has been transmitted to the Senate, its principal sponsor said on June 12.
Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman, in a statement, said House Bill No. 9349 was transmitted from House Secretary General Reginald Velasco to Senate President Chiz Escudero "pursuant to the unanimous directive of the House."
The House website also showed that HB 9349 was transmitted to and received by the Senate on June 11, 2024.
With the transmission, there's no need to wait for the House's plenary action as the 19th Congress resumes session on July 22. Velasco previously said it would hold the formal transmission when the 19th Congress resumes session.
According to the House website, once a House-approved bill has been transmitted to the Senate, it will undergo the same legislative process.
After the Senate deliberates on the bill, a conference committee consisting of members from the House and the Senate may settle, reconcile, or thresh out differences or disagreements on any provision of the bill.
They may also introduce new provisions or report out an entirely new bill on the subject.
Afterward, the conference committee prepares a report to be signed by all the conferees and the chairman. The report is then submitted for consideration or approval of the House and the Senate, and no amendment is allowed.
The approved bill is then transmitted to the president, who may approve or veto the bill.
If the president won't act on the bill in 30 days, it will lapse into law.
The House approved HB 9349 on the third and final reading last May with 126 affirmative votes, 109 negative votes, and 20 abstentions.
A May 22 report signed by Velasco however, said the “actual results” had 131 affirmative votes. He explained the correction was due to a “purely administrative error."
In any case, Lagman said the changes in the number of affirmative votes didn't change the results favoring the bill's passage.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada previously said the divorce bill won't be their priority. He also conducted an informal survey among senators, with five members in favor of divorce, five members against divorce, and one member abstaining.
HB 9349 provides limited grounds for absolute divorce, including:
- legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified;
- annulment of marriage under Article 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified;
- separation of the spouses in fact for at least five years at the time the petition for absolute divorce is filed, and reconciliation is highly improbable;
- psychological incapacity as provided in Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines;
- irreconcilable differences; and
- domestic or marital abuse to include acts under Republic Act 9262, or the Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, is the only state outside the Vatican where divorce is illegal.
Lawmakers have filed bills to legalize divorce since 1999 but were never approved.
