As overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) leave their spouses and children in the Philippines to find better opportunities abroad, some of them become victims of broken relationships due to spousal infidelity.
Because of this, members of the House of Representatives are visiting OFWs around the world for consultation on House Bill No. 6027 or the Act Providing For Grounds For Dissolution of Marriage.
In November, members of the lower House will be consulting OFWs based in Japan and Dubai regarding the proposed bill.
Under the proposal, the process for the dissolution of marriage starts with the filing of a joint petition to the court, which includes the agreement of the couple on the custody of the children and their support, as well as the sharing in the division of their properties.
Rep. Sol Aragones, chairperson ng House Committee on Population and Family Relation, ACT-OFW party-list Rep. Aniceto ‘John’ Bertiz Jr., and other congressmen met with some 200 OFWs in Hong Kong, on Sunday, October 1.
Several groups in Hong Kong expressed their support for the bill authored by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, saying it could ease the process of ending failed marriages.
“The money that they need to shell out to get out of a bad marriage could be spent on their family. Why are we making them suffer?” Rappler quoted Hong Kong-based Filipino journalist and lawyer Daisy Mandap as saying.
Similarly, the group Mission for Migrant Workers said a lot of the cases they handle involve OFWs with marital problems.
“We have a case wherein she was able to single-handedly send their children to school and build a house on the land of the relatives of her husband. She is thinking of acquiring other properties for herself, considering that her husband is now cohabiting with another woman in the house she built with her own sweat and tears,” Cynthia Abdon of the Mission for Migrant Workers was quoted as saying.
Source: Rappler
