“Kundi lang dahil sa dalawang anak ko… matagal ko nang nilayasan yan,”
DUBAI: With her laptop showing news about the ongoing debate in the Philippine Senate on the merits of a bill legalizing divorce reaching feverish pitch, Marielle Bartolome could only glance at the street below from her bedroom window at a Rigga flat in thoughts.
Pensive but with a hue of glee, Marielle, who left Manila for Dubai five years ago, has been in a stressful, if not at all tumultuous, toxic relationship with her husband whom she married in 1998. Crux of the matter is the hubby’s seeming propensity to splurge despite himself being jobless; not to mention words that he has been womanizing.
“Kundi lang dahil sa dalawang anak ko… matagal ko nang nilayasan yan,” Marielle told herself in murmurs, careful not to be overheard by her prying roommates. (If not for my two kids, I would have left him a long time ago.)
Marielle had attempted to opt for annulment but it entails a lot of money – some Ph200,000 (Dh15,000) as of her last inquiry – it requires personal appearance and could take up to three years, she was told by a lawyer.
A fastfood service crew, Marielle is making just a little over Dh2,000 a month. Saving Dh15,000 will take forever considering her basic expenses with rent and food, plus the money she regularly sends home.
“Inshallah,” Marielle utters to herself, thoughts about House Bill 7303 passing the Senate filling her mind.
Stuck
Manolo Licaros, a medical practitioner in Abu Dhabi, has been monitoring progress of the bill, which recently passed the House of Representatives on a vote of 134 lawmakers for; 57 against; and two abstaining.
Considered a landmark legislation, House Bill 7303, introduced by Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, calls for an “absolute divorce and dissolution of marriage” and was accepted resoundingly across the lower chamber’s political spectrum – President Duterte’s “super majority,” the minority and two opposition blocs. Pundits say the Legislature has never seen such divorce bill making it this far in the Philippines. Divorce bills in the past rarely made it on the floor for deliberations, they say.
“Sagot na ba ito sa mga panalangin ko?” Manolo would ask himself while doing the rounds of patients at the hospital’s trauma ward. “Sana naman.” (Is this finally the answer to my prayers? I hope so.)
Married in 2000, Manolo has been entangled in a rocky relationship with his wife, a Makati accountant who has been having second thoughts about their marriage and having plans to make the big leap. The two have, through the years, acquired some properties including at least two BGC condo units; and two kids now in grade school.
Manolo sees the marriage as something like a thorn on his pride; Samantha, the wife, feels it more like a ball in chain, a hindrance to her career.
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Battered husband
Just recently in the Muraqqabat flats, a woman ran after her husband with knife in hand. The guy made it to his room just in time to dodge his wife’s charge who ended up impaling her weapon at the door instead.
Neighbors said the couple had been in quarrels since they moved in over a year ago.
“Matagal ko nang gustong makipaghiwalay sa kanya,” said Ernst Santiago, (not his real name), a delivery guy. “Sobrang selosa. Pero paano naman mga anak namin sa Pilipinas?” (I have long been wanting to call it quits with her; she takes issues on a lot of things. But I worry about our kids in the Philippines.)
There are two pending pieces of legislation in the Senate that would expand annulment coverages: Senate Bill 410 by Sen. Loren Legarda and Senate Bill 1745 by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Legarda’s SB 410 was introduced on July 18, 2016; and seeks to prescribe an additional ground for annulment. It has been pending in the committee level since August 2016.
Zubiri’s SB 1745 was introduced on March 14; and seeks the government’s recognition of Church-decreed annulment. The bill has not moved and no hearing has been set.
Fate
As of press time, the fate of HB 7303 hangs thick in the air like secrets lost, as Arundhati Roy would say in her Man Booker Prize-winning novel, “God of Small Things.”
The operative phrase is “dissolution of marriages,” a concept that Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said is “a new idea being introduced.”
“Divorce as we know it in America, doubtful. But this new idea being introduced, ‘dissolution of marriage,’ should be studied. Speaker (Pantaleon Alvarez) tells me there is a difference. Hence, we study if true,”Manila-based, independent news portal, Rappler quoted Pimentel as saying in a text message.
Pimentel’s marriage was annulled last year, according to Rappler.
Meanwhile, Legarda’s bill would allow the annulment of marriage if the parties involved have been separated in fact for at least five years.
Zubiri’s measure states that a Church’s annulment or dissolution of marriage “shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment or dissolution issued by a competent court.” The bill covers all religions.
A recent TFT straw poll of some 1,870 OFW netizens across UAE showed that eight of every 10 Filipinos favor or are inclined to prefer divorce.
