House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and his wife Yedda are seeking for a faster annulment process for couples who obtained church annulment to also get civil annulment.
The bill hopes to recognize the civil effects of church annulment.
“Priests, pastors, imams and rabbis who solemnize marriage must have the authority to solemnize granted by the State,” Romualdez wrote in its bill explanatory note.
“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,” it added.
The bill cites the reforms pushed by Pope Francis to streamline the process of annulment.
Romualdez explained that the Family Code recognizes marriage as valid solemnized under the Church.
