8/6/2019 July 27.2011_Bill Legalizing Annulment of Marriages by Religious Sects Filed

1/2

NR # 2477

JULY 27, 2011

Bill legalizing annulment of marriages by religious sects filed

A lawmaker has filed a bill recognizing annulment of marriages by various religious

congregations in the country.

Rep. Pablo Garcia (2nd District, Cebu), author of House Bill 1290 to be known as An Act

Legalizing Church Annulment Or Dissolution of Certain Marriages, said under the Civil Code of

the Philippines, only Muslim divorces or dissolutions of marriages are recognized by the

Philippine government.

Garcia said the government does not recognize annulment of marriages by other religious

sects because there is no pertinent law to allow it.

Among the religious sects in the Philippines are the Roman Catholic Church, Aglipayan

Church, Mormons, Assemblies of God,Iglesia ni Kristo, Jesus is Lord,Ang Dating Daan, United

Church of Christ in the Philippines, Victory Christian Fellowship, andEl Shaddai.Garcia said under the principle of equality before the law, there is no reason why the

annulment of marriages by the church or by any religious denomination should not be recognized

by the State.

To give credence to the principle of equality before the law, the States recognition of

church laws is not only right but also logical. The State must also respect the annulment of

marriage that results from the application of church laws, Garcia said.

Garcia said the principle of the States acceptance of annulment of marriage from certain

religions like the Muslim should also be applicable to all other congregations.He said if Muslim divorces are legalized, there could be no serious objections to

recognizing the annulment of a marriage by a church or by any other established and recognized

religious denominations.

The law recognizes as valid a marriage consummated in accordance with the laws of the

church. Thus, the State respects the laws of the church, Garcia said.

Marriage, therefore, is an element in the exercise of religious freedom. So logically, if the

marriage, insofar as the contracting parties are concerned, is validated by the laws of the Church,then it necessarily follows that by the same laws, such marriage can also be invalidated or

annulled, Garcia said.

Under the bill, whenever a marriage duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister,

imam, rabbi or presiding elder of a church is subsequently annulled, the government is mandated

to recognize it.

Divorce had been part of the countrys legal system and widely practiced among ancestral

tribes in Palawan, Nueva Vizcaya, the Cordilleras, the Manobos and Moslems of the Visayas and

Mindanao Islands.

When the New Civil Code took effect on August 30, 1950, divorce was disallowed under

Philippine law. Only legal separation was available. (30)jy

8/6/2019 July 27.2011_Bill Legalizing Annulment of Marriages by Religious Sects Filed

2/2