00:00Atty. Fatima has a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge for us in the cases that she handled, family law and divorce cases in Canada.
00:11But here in the Philippines, people are worried, Atty., what is this divorce law?
00:17Will she destroy the family even if it passes through the Senate?
00:23The divorce bill that passed through the House has expanded grounds that are not in the existing provisions of the family law.
00:30More specifically, the grounds of legal separation have become grounds for absolute divorce.
00:36And of course, the expanded grounds, more specifically the five years of separation impact that is also being used and the irreconcilable defense between the parties,
00:49it's really a case-to-case basis.
00:52It depends on the experience of each spouse.
00:57For the benefit that the spouse gets aside from the additional grounds in terms of expediency and access,
01:07we can also call it access to justice because it is really expensive for us in the Philippines to file an annulment.
01:20Usually, what spouses use to file the annulment is what is called psychological incapacity.
01:29And most of us know that when it comes to psychological incapacity, psychologists need to consider additional expenses for the spouse.
01:44Aside from that, the process is still long.
01:47So it does not really give access to justice to individuals who really need a remedy for divorce.
01:57The absolute divorce law, based on what I have read, does not hinge on the specific religion of a person.
02:08We will emphasize the separation of state and church because in our government,
02:17their duty is to guide and give a remedy to their leaders if this is the need of each individual.
02:29In the church, of course, the heads of the church should be the ones to give guidance to their people.
02:38For now, the debate is divided among faith-based groups.
02:43The religious communities say that the sanctity of marriage is violated.
02:52On the other hand, you said this is an access to justice legislation.
02:57And the feminist groups or gender equality groups are on the other side.
03:04Will a divorce law actually destroy the family and marriage?
03:11On the other hand, Congressman Edsel also said that to begin with, marriage is broken.
03:18Well, Malu, you have many aspects.
03:23First of all, in the Philippines, the definition of family is very limited.
03:32It is too complex.
03:34For our countrymen, the family is made up of mother, father, and child.
03:43But in reality, the mother and child can also be considered a family.
03:50So it also depends on how each individual considers their sector of the family.
03:59You mentioned earlier the sanctity of marriage.
04:04We will go back to the issue of divorce because it is a hot topic in the Philippines.
04:09In Article 1 of the Family Code, where do you define family?
04:16Marriage rather as a contract and an inviolable social institution.
04:24For me, what I mean by that is that you define marriage and your marital obligations
04:34based on the parties that will perform it based on the institution of marriage that has mutual love, mutual trust, respect, and fidelity.
04:48What can be strengthened there is how the spouses will balance their marital obligations with each other.
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