Centuries of doctrine could end in Philippines as law to make divorce legal debated

Only country aside from the Vatican where process is banned

- SHWETA SHARMA

The Philippines is the only country in the world, other than the tiny Vatican, where divorce is illegal. But this may soon change, as the nation of nearly 116 million people awaits a new piece of legislation that is expected to finally put an end to the old law.

The Absolute Divorce Bill, which lays out a number of circumstances to allow divorce in a country with an 80 per cent Catholic population, was passed by the House of Representatives on 22 May and sent for further deliberation to the Senate. The bill will become law if it passes through the upper chamber of parliament.

At least five of the 24 senators have come out in support of the bill, a significant number in a legislature where conservative lawmakers backed by the Catholic Church hold considerable sway. It’s nearly half a millennium since the Spanish first colonised the Philippines, yet the indelible imprint of their more than 300-year rule on the Southeast Asian country has left thousands of couples trapped in long-dead marriages.

A similar bill in 2018 died in the Senate after running into strong opposition from its conservative members. The new bill narrowly passed the lower chamber on its third reading by a slim margin of 126 votes in favour, 109 against, and 20 abstentions.