The Church or at least Cebu Church groups had finally spoken out against a proposed bill by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that would allow for the easier dissolution of marriage that they fear would pave the way for divorce in the country.
It is to be expected that they would raise opposition to the bill that is admittedly laced with self-interest from Alvarez, who has a mistress and is living separately from his wife.
To be honest, Alvarez as an example is not by far the best representation or even argument for the dissolution of marriage at least as far as the standard definition of Christian marriages go due to his Manobo tribe affiliation that supposedly allows him to marry as many wives as he can.
Did we mention he also had some extramarital affairs before he got hooked to his current flame?
No need to since it is largely an open secret and Alvarez is not alone in the Lower House or anywhere in public service as President Rodrigo Duterte himself admitted.
And Alvarez did earn contempt from those outside the sphere of Duterte loyalists for his propensity to bully anyone in or out of power short of the President as shown by his threat to cite in contempt the Court of Appeals justices in the Marcos case.
No, probably the most legitimate advocates for the dissolution of marriage bill would have to be the House Speaker’s wife and victims of domestic violence who have endured abuse from their spouses, the perpetrators of whom are usually the husbands who have not taken marriage vows as seriously as they ought to be.
The proposed marriage dissolution bill also comes on the heels of another bill that would allow union of same-sex partners as well as delay marriage between couples that are living together without wanting to get hitched just yet.
Foreign cultural influence or simply the changing tenor of the times had introduced the idea that marriages should not lock anyone down in an unhappy relationship and there should be ways to dissolve it.
As guardians of entrenched Catholic religious values and traditions, the Catholic Church’s call for action will ring across Congress which is still dominated by lawmakers who profess to be loyal Catholics.
And they have plenty of time to lobby to at least delay deliberations on the bill which is one in a mountain of bills already pending in Congress unless Alvarez himself lobbies quite hard for its passage.
Cebu’s lawmakers are staunchly Catholic, though Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district is quite open about discussing and even considering a bill that would allow legal same-sex unions.
Again, it would be a long, arduous campaign but popular public sentiment will be the ultimate deciding factor on whether or not the country is ready to accept and allow the easier dissolution of marriage.
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