Divorce rejected
Measure unites President Aquino, Church
By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO
June 2, 2011, 6:38pm
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (via PLDT) – President Aquino has thumbed down efforts to push for divorce, an issue that appears to unite the Chief Executive and the Catholic Church.
President Aquino was reacting to fresh efforts in the House of Representatives to enact a divorce law, after the contentious Reproductive Health (RH) bill. He said he still believes that families should remain intact.
The RH measure is being vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church and has divided Filipinos on the merits of the bill.
“I’m not married yet, you are asking me about divorce,” the President said in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Personally, the President said he is in favor of keeping the sanctity of marriage and family intact. “It is important that we keep the family intact. Having said that however, there are also those into relationships that are beyond repair,” he said.
Although staunchly opposed to divorce, the Catholic Church provides for the dissolution of marriages but only on compelling reasons. The process takes years.
Right now, the divorce bill is not within the priority concerns of his administration, Aquino said. “We had not even gone through the responsible parenthood bill, and now we want to tackle a divorce bill?” he said.
Aquino and the Church have been locked in horns over the RH bill, which seeks to expand health as well as artificial birth control methods. The Church said the bill promotes abortion and promiscuity.
Unlike the divorce bill, Aquino said the RH bill, which Malacañang prefers to call Responsible Parenthood bill, is linked with promoting better standard of living.
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