Social Relevance of the Study.

This study is important regarding the applicability of divorce law in the

Philippines. Our present society is currently not focusing on issues relating
marriage. This study seeks to enlighten our government that a time for
change is needed. Growing number of married battered women in the
Philippine society is still increasing. Let me site one situation of married
battered women in the Philippines. It was the middle of the night when
Rowena (not her real name) woke to the sounds of her husband in his
drunken stupor returning home and struggling with the door. Her heart was
pounding for she knew all too well from a long and painful experience what
would happen next. And so it did: Before she had a chance to jump off the
bed to defend herself, he was already punching her full in the face. By the
time he was finished assaulting her, Rowena’s face and body was a mass of
cuts and bruises which took more than a week to heal. Physically if not
emotionally recovered, Rowena finally decided that enough was enough.
“Ayoko na. Pagod na ako. (I couldn’t bear it any longer. I was tired)," she said.
Then aged 22, a college dropout and jobless, Rowena packed her things up,
got together her three children and left. “It was the best decision I’ve ever
made," she said looking back. But were it not for her parents providing
support and a place to go, Rowena admits she would not have been able to
muster enough courage to leave. Like her, few battered wives have the luxury
of returning to their childhood homes.

Battering happens every day and sometimes not being noticed in our
society. According to the Gabriela Women’s Party, a Congressional group
committed to promoting the rights and interests of marginalized and
disadvantaged women, a Filipina is a victim of domestic abuse every two
hours.“The problem of domestic violence is extremely common," says
spokeswoman Gert Libang, “but the question that always pops into the heads
of victims is: ‘How will I feed my children if I leave?’ She adds that nearly all of
the 400 women who sought help from Gabriela Women’s Party last year were
jobless mothers with no means to make a successful getaway from abusive
1
partners.

Application of divorce in Philippine law with a strong sense of confidence

that it will be used responsibly by Filipino couples is being encouraged. This
confidence stems from the experiences of Filipino families that show that
separation is usually the last resort of many Filipino couples whose marriage
has failed. Cases of battered women also support this. Battered women
invariably seek separation only after many years of trying to make the
marriage work; separation only becomes imperative for them when they
realize that it is necessary for their and their children’s survival. Divorce could
actually provide protection to battered women and their children from further
violence and abuse.

With the predominance of the Catholic faith in the Philippines, the fear that
divorce will erode personal values on marriage appears unfounded. There are
also some biblical grounds for divorce. Based on Matthew 19 and I
Corinthians 7:12-15, there are three circumstances or grounds for a valid,
Biblical divorce and remarriage. These are:
(1) When the marriage and divorce occurred prior to salvation;
(2) When one’s mate is guilty of sexual immorality and is unwilling to repent
and live faithfully with the marriage partner;
(3) When one of the mates is an unbeliever and willfully and permanently
deserts the believing partner.
The Radio Bible Class Ministries article by Vander Lugt discusses in greater
detail the issue of domestic violence or spousal abuse as a ground for
divorce. Vander Lugt basically agrees with Swindoll and Anderson that the
Bible permits divorce and remarriage on two grounds: sexual infidelity and the
desertion of a spouse by an unbeliever. However, Vander Lugt argues that I
Corinthians 7:10-11 is the Apostle Paul’s compassionate provision for an
abused woman. He states, “ … a woman who is married to a physically
abusive husband may not be sinning when, with the encouragement of her
spiritual counselors, she
2

seeks divorce action – even if her husband is not guilty of sexual immorality.”
He adds however that in such a case, remarriage is not allowed. The
experience of Italy, where the Vatican is located, and Spain, two
predominantly Catholic countries which practice divorce, supports this. Those
countries have a low rate of divorce. Italy registers a 7% rate while Spain
registers 15%. The figures reflect the strong influence of religious beliefs and
culture on individuals in deciding to terminate marital relations.

The protection of these vulnerable and disadvantageous sectors which

are the married women who are economically underprivileged must be the
prime concern in constructing the divorce law. The basis is Article 24 of the
Civil Code of the Philippines which states In all contractual, property or other
relations, when one of the parties is at a disadvantage on account of his moral
dependence, ignorance, indigence, mental weakness, tender age or other
handicap, the courts must be vigilant for his protection.

In the midst of the persistent patriarchal culture of Filipinos, women’s

organizations have however successfully managed to bring the issue of
domestic violence to Congress which passed the Anti-Violence against
Women and their Children Act in 2004. Under this law, violence means not
only physical abuse such as beatings and sexual attacks, but also that which
is economic or psychological in nature. The law defines economic abuse as
the withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim from engaging in
any legitimate occupation, except in cases wherein the other spouse or
partner objects on valid, serious and moral grounds. Psychological abuse is
when a woman or child is put to shame in public and subjected to verbal
abuse, among others. Treating the woman as a sexual object ranks as “sexual
abuse." If serious violence is committed against women while they are
pregnant or in the presence of her children, courts are instructed to apply the
maximum penalty allowable which includes life imprisonment.
3
There are nineteen victims of marital violence every day. In 2009, wife
battery ranked highest among cases of violence against women at 72 percent,
victimizing 6,783 women. About three out of ten perpetrators of violence
against women are husbands of the victims, according to Philippine National
Police (PNP). Some 800 cases for legal separation and annulment are filed
every month before the Office of the Solicitor General. Over 43,650
applications were recorded from 2001 to 2007.

Reported cases of battering significantly increased. Thinking that no other

means of escape these women suffer a lot. The Philippine National Police
(PNP) says the law effectively encourages victims to come forward and report
their case to the authorities. In less than ten years, police have noted a big
leap in the number of cases reported to them: from 1,100 in 1996 to over
6,500 by 2005. The PNP says that while husbands are the primary
perpetrators, some are boyfriends or unmarried partners. It believes, however,
that there are many more victims who do not report attacks to the authorities
because of reasons similar to those cited by Gabriela Women’s Party. They
do not see a way out.
“There is an element of forgiveness for the sake of family togetherness," says
Chief Supt. Yolanda Tanigue, chief of the PNP Women and Children’s
Division.
Gabriela Women’s Party adds that the pain of breaking a family is further
sealed by the tragic belief that violence in the confines of intimate
relationships is trivial. It recounts cases when a victim rushes to the village
chieftain or barangay captain to seek help, only to be told to go back home
and discuss it out with the spouse because, after all, it is simply a couple’s
quarrel or better known in Filipino as away mag-asawa. “For the barangay the
quarrel only becomes a case when someone is already dead," says
spokeswoman Libang. She claims that some male lawyers and judges fail to
take the issue of domestic violence seriously enough. She maintains that
some even have accused victims of having “raging insecurities" while others
have been reprimanded for “wasting the court’s time."

4
There are still more undocumented and unreported cases where women
opt to suffer in silence for the sake of family togetherness. Violence also goes
unreported due to victim’s embarrassment, not knowing how or to whom to
report, or worst of all, the tragic belief that the violence was unimportant and
that nothing could be done anyway. Yet these victims are wasting away from
the unresolved injustice of their lives. Of the reported cases, authorities say
the primary perpetrators of violence are husbands. In 2003 the Social
Weather Station, a research and survey institution in the Philippines,
conducted a survey of men who admitted having physically harmed women.
Thirty-nine percent had committed it against their wives; 15 percent were
violent toward their girlfriends; 4 percent beat their unmarried partners. The
rest of the attacks against women were committed by men unknown to them.
Clearly, domestic violence or violence in the confines of intimate relationships
is the most prevalent form of abuse against women in the Philippines.
Combine a no-divorce policy and you get an agonizing picture of Filipino
women. How they subsist and survive in this situation is hard to imagine. On
an international scale, a World Bank analysis indicates that half of the world’s
women have been battered by an intimate partner. In Asia, 60% of all women
have been assaulted. The impact on children is appalling. Body Shop
International estimates that 1.8 to 3.2 million children in the Philippines are
exposed to domestic violence and suffer the traumatic effects for the rest of
their lives. This number just escalates year after year.

The Women’s Legal Bureau (WLB), a legal resource for women agreed
that present laws relating to the separation of couples and termination of
marriage are inadequate to respond to the myriad causes of failed marriages.
“Particularly, the remedies of declaration of nullity and annulment do not cover
the problems that occur during the existence of marriage. Legal separation,
on the other hand, while covering problems during marriage, does not put an
end to marriage.” A person who is separated can still be charged with bigamy
or concubinage, if and when he or she enters into another relationship.

5
The Philippines allowed divorce during the Spanish era, the American
period and the Japanese Occupation. Only in 1950 did a new civil code take
effect, disallowing divorce under Philippine law. The 1988 Family Code
adopted the same policy but it did provide for nullification of marriage on
grounds of psychological incapacity. While a few brave legislators have
authored bills to legalize divorce, none of these have seen the light of day.
Proposed bills regularly expire at the committee level before they can even be
deliberated up in Congress. Psychological incapacity is a very limited basis
but the Supreme Court describes psychological incapacity as an incurable
disease. The focus must shift from psychological grounds to issues of gender
inequality and freedom from unhealthy and devastating relationships. A
petition for nullification of marriage is also a far cry from the usual divorce
proceeding practiced worldwide and euro;

In formulating a national divorce law one must account for the existing
indigenous community practices where proceedings are performed by
mumbakis (indigenous priests) or tribal leaders. Many marriages have been
solemnized not in city halls, but in tribal communities. The important thing is to
recognize what they deem as a practical and sensible divorce law in their own
context she says. In the end, these bills failed to advance beyond the filing
stage and were not even calendared for reading because they were not
considered.

Most Filipinos take the side of the Catholic Church, although there has
been no costly referendum. Anyone who advocates for divorce is judged
immoral and without conscience. Staying married for the sake of the family is
considered a sacrifice with heavenly rewards. Plus, Filipino women tend to
submit to society’s pressures. They dare not earn the ire and judgment of their
community. The path usually pursued, which is still unpopular, is to separate,
but this leaves women in a legal bind. It takes financial independence for a
woman to make a successful getaway from an abusive partner. She must be
6
able to sustain herself and her children to ward off the abusive husband who
would try to harass her into coming back. The social stigma for a woman who
breaks up her marriage is deep-seated, disconcerting and disempowering.
Those who have gone through annulment cases attest to just how
painstakingly long and tedious the process is to prove the other person is
psychologically incapacitated. Women who have gone through annulment
claim that it eats up an enormous part of their resources, makes their lives a
public show, and even then they wait for years for the court to grant them
marital freedom. Others have waited in vain when the courts simply denied
their claims.

But with divorce law there will be a practical and efficient means for these
battered women. Let me site some provisions of House Bill 1799.
"Art. 57. [An action for legal separation shall be filed within five years from the
time of the occurrence of the cause.]
AN ACTION FOR LEGAL SEPARATIONOR DIVORCE MAY BE FILED AT
ANY TIME."
"Art. 58. An action for legal separation shall in no case be tried before
sixmonths shall have elapsed since the filing of the petition.
THE SAME RULE SHALLAPPLY TO AN ACTION FOR DIVORCE BASED
ON ARTICLE 55 (B), NUMBERS 3AND 5 OF THIS CODE. THIS RULE
SHALL NOT APPLY WHERE THE ACTIONFOR LEGAL SEPARATION OR
DIVORCE INVOLVES ACTS OF VIOLENCEAGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR
CHILDREN UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9262. INA SUCH CASE,
SECTION 19 OF THE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9262 SHALL APPLY”.
 When will the government realize that a divorce law is not meant to
advocate separation and broken marriage, but merely expands the choices of
its citizenry? When the state offers no viable alternative to desperate,
hopeless marriages it is tantamount to a human rights violation by the state.