Two Roman Catholic prelates welcomed the approval on third and final reading of House Bill 6779, which seeks to recognize the civil effects of church-decreed annulment and removes the judicial process for the annulment of marriage.
Under the proposed law, marriage annulments approved by the Catholic Church or any other religious group will have the same effect as a civil annulment, thus eliminating the legal process.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes noted that House Bill 6779, entitled “An Act Recognizing the Civil Effects of Church Annulment Decrees” is recognizing the Church’s decision to annul a wedding.
“Indeed since the Church is given the authority to perform marriage automatically approved by the state or recognized civilly, it is only very logical that when the Church annuls a marriage, i.e. that there was no valid marriage at all, the state or civil government should also automatically recognize the nullity of the marriage as declared by the Church,” Bishop Bastes said.
For his part, Balanga Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos said that the bill was giving weight to the decision of the Catholic Church.
“With the House’s approval, it means church declaration of nullity has same effect with and much weight with civil court decisions,” he added.
At the same time, the Bataan bishop said that the law would also prevent parties from spending too much time and money.
“House Bill 6779 still upholds the indissolubility of marriage. The positive effect is just to avoid the costly and long tiring judicial process,” Santos explained.
On Monday, the House approved the bill on third and final reading.
Source: PNA