Romualdez couple’s bill makes annulment accessible, inexpensive
A PROPOSED law seeking civil recognition of all religion-decreed annulment to make it accessible and not expensive for many Filipinos has been filed at the House of Representatives.
House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez filed House Bill (HB) No. 11577 recognizing the civil effects of church annulment.
“Priests, pastors, imams and rabbis who solemnize marriage must have the authority to solemnize granted by the State. Therefore, if a marriage can be legitimately contracted under the laws of the Church, then it follows that under the same laws, such marriage can also be nullified or annulled,” the Romualdez couple said in defending the measure entitled “An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of Church Annulment, Declaration of Nullity, and Dissolution of Marriages and for other Purposes.”
The Romualdez couple said the bill will not jeopardize the indissolubility of marriage.
While safeguarding the sanctity of marriage, the Romualdez couple said their proposal was an offshoot of Pope Francis’ decision to simplify the procedures for annulling marriages in the Catholic Church after complaints that its current system is cumbersome, costly and often unfair.
They recalled that Pope Francis’ introduction of a “briefer annulment process that involves the local bishop, and requires only a single judgment, dropping the need for an automatic appeal to a higher tribunal” will be useless if the state will not recognize the Church annulment.
Pope Francis even asked bishops that the annulment process will be now free of charge or at least be subsidized for those who cannot afford it.
Under Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1083, the State recognizes divorce under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines, which is based on the Sharia, or Islamic law.
“Under the principle of equality before the law, if a Muslim divorce is recognized, there can be no serious objections towards the recognition of the civil effects of a marriage by an established and duly recognized religious denomination,” the proposed law said.
Before the 17th Congress ended, the House of Representatives with an overwhelming 203 votes approved the bill on third and final reading.
The bill provides that whenever a marriage, duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or religious sect in the Philippines is subsequently annulled or dissolved in a final judgment or decree in accordance with the canons or precepts of the church or religious sect, the said annulment or dissolution shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment or dissolution issued by a competent court.
The measure provides that the status of children of marriages subject of the Church annulment decree shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order (EO) No. 209, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.
In case the ground for Church annulment decree is not similar to any of the grounds provided in the Family Code of the Philippines, their common children born or conceived before the issuance of the Church annulment shall be considered legitimate.
The measure provides that the liquidation, partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses, the custody and support of the common children, and the delivery of their presumptive legitimes, shall be agreed upon by the spouses, and embodies in a public document. In case, no agreement is met, the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines shall be in force.
Under the bill, either of the former spouses may marry again after complying with the requirements of the preceding paragraph and Article 52 of EO No. 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines, otherwise, the subsequent marriage shall be null and void.
In securing a marriage license, the spouse involved must present a certified true copy of the final judgment or decree of declaration of nullity, annulment or dissolution of marriage registered with the appropriate civil registry, the bill provides.
The bill further provides that the final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution issued by the proper church or religious sect shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry within 30 days from issuance of said final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution.
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