By Frances Pio
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Muling naghain si Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman ng panukalang batas na gawing legal ang divorce at sinabi na, “cannot abandon couples and their children in a house on fire.”
Sa paghahain ng House Bill No. 78, o ang iminungkahing “Absolute Divorce Act,” pinaninindigan ni Lagman na ang panukala ay “an apt sequel to the Reproductive Health Act,” na nagsasabing ang diborsyo ay isa ring isyu sa karapatan ng kababaihan.
Sa kanyang paliwanag, ipinunto ng kinatawan ng Albay: “It is fact that some marriages break down even with the couples’ resolute and repeated efforts to solve differences and reconcile.”
Nabanggit niya na ang diborsyo ay pangunahing isyu sa mga karapatan ng kababaihan, at sinabi na, “Not being able to get out of a loveless, unhappy, even abusive marriage is a human rights concern for women.”
“When there is physical violence in a relationship, women are almost always at the receiving end of a fist or an open palm and it is the obligation of the State to ensure this does not intensify to the use of a knife or firearm,” sinabi ni Lagman.
Ayon kay Lagman, ang diborsiyo ay “talagang hindi para sa mga mag-asawa na may maayos, masaya at masiglang relasyon sa loob ng kasal,” ngunit ito ay “para sa mga pambihirang kaso kung kailan ang pagsasama ng mag-asawa ay hindi na maibabalik.”
Sa ilalim ng panukala, ang mga paglilitis sa korte para sa absolute divorce ay gagawing “affordable, expeditious and inexpensive.”
Ang mga batayan para sa diborsiyo ay kinabibilangan ng mga sumusunod: physical abuse; moral pressure to change religious or political affiliations; attempt to induce a child to engage in prostitution or connivance in such; final judgment of over six years of imprisonment; drug addiction, habitual alcoholism or chronic gambling; homosexuality; bigamy; marital infidelity or perversion; attempt on the life of petitioner and unjustified abandonment.