The House plenary. (Speaker’s office)

The House of Representatives is on the cusp of giving final approval to a measure that would legalize divorce in the Philippines. 

This, after the chamber approved House Bill (HB) No.9349 on second reading during plenary session Wednesday night, May 15. 

Principally sponsored by Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman, the full title of the measure reads, "An Act reinstituting absolute divorce as an alternative mode for the dissolution of marriage." 

Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr., the presiding officer made the bill's second-reading passage official after a simple voice vote (ayes vs. nayes).

The penultimate passage of HB No.9349 on Wednesday gives it ample time to be taken up for third reading next week, before Congress adjourns sine die. 

Lagman has been defending the measure on the floor since March. The lengthy period of interpellation is no surprise, since divorce is a very contentious subject in the country. 

The Philippines--a predominantly Catholic country--is among the last few nations in the world that does not recognize divorce.

Despite this fact, Lagman had presented the measure as a "reinstitution" of divorce, as he had claimed that the social mechanism existed among Filipinos centuries ago before Catholicism was introduced to the country. 

There was audible applause from the pro-divorce crowd in the gallery after the bill was passed on second reading. 

The objective of HB No.9349 is to "reinstitute absolute divorce as an alternative mode for the dissolution of an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage under limited grounds and well-defined judicial procedures". 
 

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It is intended to "save the children from the pain, stress, and agony consequent to their parents marital clashes or irreconcilable differences". 

The measure also seeks to "grant the divorced spouses the right to marry again for another chance to achieve marital bliss". 

It stipulates the grounds upon which a petition for absolute divorce may be filed, as
follows: 

-The grounds for legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines, as modified;
-The grounds for 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 (5) years at the time the petition for absolute divorce is filed, and reconcililation is highily improbable;
-Psychological incapacity as provided in Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philppines
-Irreconcilable differences; and
-Domestic or marital abuse to include acts under Republic Act (RA) No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.