Apart from the Vatican, the Philippines is the only State without divorce. The only legal recourse for married couples who wish to end their civil union is to file for a legal separation or a civil annulment. Married couples in harmful and irreconcilable relationships find these two options inadequate. Legal separation does not allow for remarriage while filing for a civil annulment is costly, takes years to process, and has no guaranteed outcome. Spouses who suffer from emotional abuse, domestic violence, or abandonment are gravely affected by the limited options to leave broken marriages.
Before Spanish colonization in the 16th century, indigenous and Muslim communities in the country practiced forms of divorce. The introduction of Catholicism made divorce unavailable in colonized regions. Absolute divorce was introduced in 1917 during the American occupation. It was later abolished in 1949 when the Civil Code of the Philippines was promulgated three years after the country gained independence.
Through presidential decree, divorce was allowed for Muslim Filipinos in 1977. However, attempts to introduce a national divorce law in 1999, 2001, and 2010 have failed because of strong opposition from the legislature and the Catholic Church. In May 2024, a renewed attempt to introduce a divorce bill gained traction. The House of Representatives passed House Bill 9349, which grants absolute divorce as an additional option to legal separation and civil annulment for the dissolution of marriage. It is now up to the Senate to propose and pass its version of a divorce bill. If the Senate passes its bill, the two versions (House and Senate) will be consolidated and signed into law by the President.
Some members of the clergy expressed their initial reactions to the divorce bill by declaring it as “anti-family, anti-marriage, and anti-children.” “No to Divorce” signs have started appearing outside parish churches. This author initially feared that a belligerent and politically partisan campaign by the Church to block the passage of the divorce bill would be launched, similar to the Church-led campaign to stop a reproductive health bill more than ten years ago. In that anti-RH bill campaign, some church leaders used harsh language against politicians, encouraged allies to engage in obstructionist tactics in the legislative debates, and threatened a Catholic vote in elections. Many Filipinos opposed these inappropriate actions of church leaders on social media. When the reproductive health bill was eventually passed and became a national law, church leaders felt a loss of their moral authority and credibility in the public sphere. They promised to do better.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines appears to have taken a more prudent stance in its first official statement on the divorce bill, “A Nation Founded on Family, A Family Founded on Marriage.” In a surprisingly humble tone, the bishops conference acknowledged the separation of Church and State and the right of religious freedom:
Despite what religionists might think, we do have religious freedom in this country, and we uphold the principle of separation of Church and State. The Church is in no position to dictate on the State what is best for Filipino families. We know that our stubborn assertion that a genuine marriage cannot be dissolved, is not necessarily shared by all religions; and we respect that.
The statement also recognizes the limited competence of clergy to make pronouncements on civil marriage.
“What right do you have to set the rules for marriage when you yourselves have opted for the celibate life?” That is indeed a valid question. But no, we don’t intend to set the rules on civil marriage. We know that we are in no position to do that in the first place. We respect the legislative bodies of our country and the duty of our honorable legislators to come up with just laws that truly serve the common good.
The bishops’ statement reflects the Church’s concern about misusing its power and influence to intervene in a country’s political and social life (which Filipino clergy have done in the past). The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church warns against legislating Catholic norms to the detriment of the rights of persons from different religious traditions:
Because of its historical and cultural ties to a nation, a religious community might be given special recognition on the part of the State. Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups.” (#169)
In Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI cautions against the Church taking on the role of the State:
Faith enables reason to do its work more effectively and to see its proper object more clearly. This is where Catholic social doctrine has its place: it has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. (#28, a)
Rather than use ad hominem arguments, the bishop’s conference urged legislators to consider empirical evidence “if the legalization of divorce all over the world has indeed helped in protecting the common good and the welfare of the family.” While upholding the magisterial teaching on divorce and the sanctity of marriage, the bishops refrained from creating an adversarial atmosphere between the Church and the State.
The statement’s balanced tone can be credited to the current head of the bishop’s conference, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who has been a consistent voice of reason in the Philippine episcopacy. While not all bishops will take the same nuanced approach to the divorce bill in their local dioceses, the conference’s statement sends a message to Filipino Catholics, especially the clergy, that there is a civil way to discuss divisive issues in a pluralistic society and that the Church need not have the last word on everything.