Impulses
Divorce, why not?
First of Two Parts
The Philippines is one of the only four countries in the world that sees divorce as a ticket to the fiery hell. And to think that the other three countries –
The Vatican City, Malta, and Andorra – if combined represent only a land area smaller than Guimaras and a population not even half of Iloilo, one tends to wonder why is it that the rest of the world will surely to go to hell in the eyes of our apparently self-righteous Filipino moralists.
Contrary to the allegations of the hoity-toity divorce cynics, re-filed House Bill 1799 or the Act Introducing Divorce in the Philippines, was carefully crafted by progressive party-list groups to take into consideration Philippine values and traditions that give utmost importance to the way Filipinos appreciate the family as an institution. It will not allow couples to get married today and get divorced tomorrow, Law Vegas style. But it will not also allow marriages that are abusive, violent, hypocritical, deceitful, phony, and repugnant.
The bill strongly opposes a “no-fault divorce.” Instead, it will allow married couples in irreparable marriages another legal remedy – a lawful choice – that they can resort to in addition to the country’s existing laws on legal separation and annulment. In fact, it proposes that divorce may only be granted to those who have been separated for at least five years, those already legally separated for two years, or those who are psychologically incapacitated, or those who fail to comply with essential marriage obligations, or those having irreconcilable differences causing irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
A great number of those who strongly oppose divorce use The Bible as their frontier of defense. I will not take it against them even if it is also clear that divorce was fairly customary during the Old Testament times. But in the context of argumentation, a point that is solely hiding in the crib of the Scripture is insufficient. And I am saying this in the context of the science of reason, and with all due respect to the good men and women of faith. Even so, the passages must be carefully interpreted. As the exegits of the Church demand, any biblical interpretation must be context-based and should not be taken literally or as any Fr. Damaso understands it. One thing is for sure, God never said you shall honor your spouse even if he or she abuses you.
Some say that the Filipinos are not yet ready with this so-called “necessary evil.” Fact is, before the Spanish colonial rule in the 16th century, scores of ancestral tribes from the Bila-ans of Mindanao to the Igorots of the Cordilleras had widely practiced divorce. We used to have a divorce law in the Philippines before August 30, 1950. Former Vice President Arturo Tolentino was among the recipients of it. At present, this remedy is also available for those under the Muslim law. Only non-Muslim Filipinos can’t avail of it, even if their lives –
literally or figuratively – are already at stake.
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The Place To Be!
For the past two months, I “column rested” to review for my comprehensive exam in my PhD in Science Education major in Mathematics course in West Visayas State University. Almost every day, my classmates Harold Cartagena and Rosemarie Galvez, and I stayed for long hours in the air-conditioned, wifi-ready and cozy lobby of Grand Dame Hotel just to dine, surf, research, and study. For their first-class, five-star welcoming treatment to us, I would like to humbly thank the management of the Grand Dame Hotel in La Paz (fronting La Paz Market), Iloilo City.
Special credit is given to the ever-smiling general manager Manuel Gruenberg, FO supervisor Jean Espinosa, good-looking bellmen Christian Jordan Ang and Robert Coles, pretty FOs Zharena, Epiphany Joy, Lidalyn, and Magelle, restaurant supervisor Richmund Yee, friendly servers Mark Anthony Pineda, Mae Cosio, Pablito Andola, Rommel Alinsod, and Ronald Diva, and cashiers Emma Rose Jauod and Femia Cordero. They were patient and good-natured enough in understanding our limitations and needs. Very soon, I will make a full-length article about our Grand Dame exploits. I will explicitly describe why Grand Dame is the place to be.
Email: h_lagon@yahoo.com
