In her bid to convince lawmakers to legalize divorce, Filipina fruit vendor Avelina Anuran has publicly testified about the abuse she said she regularly endured at the hands of her husband. She also keeps a copy of the medical certificate from the bloody injuries she says he inflicted, hoping it might one day serve as evidence in court.
However, the mother of two-turned-activist has gotten no closer to ending her marriage. The Philippines is one of just two countries — along with Vatican City — where divorce remains illegal. Last week, the latest attempt to introduce a divorce law evaporated, as the Philippine Senate ended its session without even a hearing.
“The bill has been sitting there for almost a year. They kept passing it around,” Anuran said of legislation passed by the Philippine House of Representatives.
Photo: AFP
The last time such legislation made its way to the Senate in 2019, she painstakingly detailed her experience in a public hearing.
However, the bill foundered.
Spouses have a “right to be free,” she said, adding that she would keep pushing for a law.
“Hopefully it will [pass] next year, with new senators coming in,” she said.
Ending a marriage in the deeply Catholic society of 117 million is possible only via annulment or “nullification,” but few Filipinos can afford the fee of up to US$10,000, and the process does not consider domestic violence, abandonment or infidelity as qualifying grounds.
“I just want to be free from this marriage,” said Anuran, whose estranged husband remains the beneficiary on a life insurance policy she cannot change without his consent.
Campaigners like Anuran believe the tide of public support for divorce is turning, with surveys showing about half of Filipinos now firmly back a change.
Before taking office in 2022, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was open to supporting divorce.
However, the House bill sponsored by Philippine Representative Edcel Lagman faced stiff opposition when it reached the more conservative Senate.
The longtime human rights lawyer, who died aged 82 just days before the window for a Senate vote closed, had called passing the bill an “urgent” matter.
His proposed law would have compelled courts to provide free legal and psychological assistance to low-income petitioners, cap lawyers’ fees at 50,000 pesos (US$859), and mandate divorce petitions be resolved within a year.
The divorce bill’s coauthor, Philippine Representative Arlene Brosas, said it was “unacceptable” that the Senate had refused to tackle the measure given the “strong public demand”.
She said her Gabriela Women’s Party would refile it when a newly elected Congress convenes in July.
“We will continue fighting for the divorce bill, no matter the composition of the Senate and House of Representatives in the next term,” Brosas said.
The previous bill was likely influenced by the midterm elections in May, family lawyer Lorna Kapunan said.
“Because [half of senators] are seeking re-election, they are afraid of the backlash of the Catholic Church,” Kapunan said.
Senate President Francis Escudero had argued the bill would “create divisiveness,” suggesting instead that the grounds for nullification could be expanded while avoiding the word “divorce.”
Father Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said divorce contravenes the church’s teachings on marriage and would ultimately destroy families.
“We will see more couples separating. We will see children who don’t know where to go,” Secillano said.
He also argued the number of domestic abuse victims would “double” as divorced men would “have another chance to be violent again” to new spouses.
Despite the opposition and failed previous attempts to legalize divorce, Anuran remains determined.
“No one’s backing down. Win or lose, the fight will continue,” she said.
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
RSS