No Divorce in the Philippines

                 

This guest post is from Alyssa Danielle Isberto, Regent Family Law student:

The Philippines is the only country aside from the Vatican that does not allow divorce. This is because the Philippines is a predominantly Catholic nation. There haven’t been any changes in this law since 1949, but many citizens are pushing for the country to allow divorce. In 2018, a divorce bill passed in the House of Representatives. In 2021, the House finally approved the bill to allow for absolute divorce, but the bill still faces significant opposition, as it has not yet become law. 

Though divorce is not an option, annulments are allowed under certain circumstances. Those circumstances include “psychological incapacity, fraud, lack of parental consent, impotence, sexually transmitted disease, or if one party was already legally married at the time of the marriage.” Another way around this is if you get a divorce outside of the Philippines it can be valid as the Philippines recognizes foreign divorces.

Though divorce has become so normalized in our society today, God hates divorce. Matthew 19:6 says, “[s]o then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” However, there are certain exceptions in which God permits divorce. Sexual immorality may be an exception and in 1 Corinthians 7:15, Paul shares that another exception may be the desertion of an unbelieving spouse. Because of that, I believe divorce should be permitted in the Philippines, but only when there is a cause of action for fault grounds.