House bill provides heavier penalties for marital infidelity

The push for gender equality now moves into the realm of infidelity and possible penalties for adultery and concubinage as defined by law.

The House committee on the revision of laws has approved in principle the consolidation of four bills mandating heavier penalties for both a woman’s adultery and a man’s bigamy.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos, one of the four authors of the Marital Infidelity Bill, said the committee gave the go-ahead for the debates on the measure to begin in the plenary, though a committee report has yet to be finalized.

The bills of Marcos, Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza Maza, Cibac party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva and Northern Samar Rep, Harlin Abayon seek to repeal the country’s existing laws on adultery, bigamy and concubinage, which they said are biased against women.

Marcos said her bill "seeks to correct the seeming disparity in the treatment of husbands and wives" and calls for the "equality of men and women before the law."

Under the Revised Penal Code, women who commit adultery face a maximum prison sentence of six years, while men found guilty of keeping a mistress or who are caught in flagrante delicto with a woman other than their wives face only a maximum jail term of four years.

Men who commit bigamy, on the other hand, face a 12-year jail sentence at most.

Under House Bill 334, authored by Marcos, adultery, bigamy and concubinage will all be placed under the generic term, "martial infidelity."

The Marcos bill also equalized the punishment for infidelity by either spouse, which is a minimum jail term of two years, a medium term of four years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment.

A "married person who cohabits in any place other than (the residence shared with) his/her spouse" is liable under this measure, which also covers persons abandoned by their spouses "without just cause" and "without means of livelihood and support."

"The main purpose of this bill is to provide a definition (of) the phrase ‘marital infidelity’ and provide the penalty for the commission thereof," Marcos said in her bill’s explanatory note.

Marcos’ bill also does not make any gender distinction or use the terms "husband" or "wife." Rather, it refers to the parties concerned as "any married person."

"Marital infidelity is committed by a person who cohabits with a married man or woman, knowing him/her to be married."

Villanueva, who is the son of evangelist Eddie Villanueva, said he crafted House Bill 2238 "to help in reviving virtue and restoring value to the Filipino family."

"This is but one of many measures that should be taken to strengthen the family as an institution in this time of depreciating values and waning morals," he said. "It also abolishes the gender bias of existing provisions against sexual infidelity."