Buhay partylist Representative Lito Atienza. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza on Tuesday cried foul over a proposal by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to file a bill allowing unhappy couples to jointly petition before the court for the dissolution of their marriage, saying the Speaker should reconsider his suggestion.
In a statement, Atienza said Alvarez鈥檚 planned bill allowing couples to jointly petition their dissolution of marriage 鈥渆ffectively destroys the institution of marriage in the country.鈥�
Atienza pleaded Alvarez to reconsider this proposal, which the Speaker first mentioned in an interview with ABS-CBN.
鈥淚 hope and pray that Speaker Alvarez doesn鈥檛聽pursue this line of thinking. This would not strengthen marriage, this would destroy marriage.聽聽For Catholics, this is a contract of union before man and before God under the Sacrament of Marriage.聽聽I still hope that he was only joking when he said his ideas,鈥澛燗tienza said.
Atienza said no other country has adopted such a proposal allowing couples to easily dissolve their marriage through a joint petition in court.
鈥淭his destroys the sanctity, respect and value of the family. I don鈥檛 know of any other country in the world that has adopted this kind of law which makes it easy to dissolve a marriage upon agreement,鈥� Atienza said.
Atienza said the proposal defeats the purpose of marriage, which is symbolically a signed contract before the eyes of God.
鈥淜apag ayaw na ng mag-asawa sa isa鈥檛 isa, pwede na maghiwalay agad (When a couple no longer want to be with each other, they can easily separate). The genuine essence of marriage is totally removed from the intention of his bill with the idea to make it easy for a couple to separate. Para bang mag-usap na lang kayo, pag ayaw na, hiwalay na. Papaano naman yung kontratang pinirmahan na ang testigo ay ang Panginoong Hesukristo? (It鈥檚 just like talking among themselves and deciding to separate just like that. So, what happens now to the contract they have signed that witnessed by our Lord Jesus Christ?)鈥� Atienza said.
鈥淗anda tayong tutulan ito sa Kongreso. Sana ay maghinay-hinay si Speaker sa panukalang ito.聽聽Umaasa pa din tayo na nagbibiro lamang siya nung sinabi nya ito,鈥� he added.
(We are prepared to oppose this [proposal] in Congress. I hope the Speaker takes it slow with this proposal. We are expecting that he is just kidding when he said these things)
In an interview with ABS-CBN, Alvarez said he would prioritize the filing of a bill to allow easy dissolution of marriage, to get away with the more tedious process of annulment. JPV