Divorce not on Palace radar, says Carandang

MANILA, Philippines - Divorce is not being considered by the Aquino administration – at least at the moment, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said yesterday.

“It’s not being discussed, it’s not on the radar. I think this is being discussed mostly by civil society groups and advocates but we’ve always said that this was not something that we were thinking about at this point in time,” Carandang told reporters at the Palace after the signing of the 2013 national budget program.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. had expressed support for a long-pending bill seeking to legalize divorce in the country, but said the controversial measure would not likely be passed in the 15th Congress. His statement came on the heels of the approval of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill on third and final reading in both chambers of Congress.

A divorce measure is likely to draw as much flak as the RH bill – or even more – from the Roman Catholic Church and other religious groups. 

Carandang said neither Cabinet officials nor the President himself had ever raised the issue of divorce in any meetings.

Belmonte earlier said he was in favor of divorce proposed by Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan through House Bill No. 1799.

“It’s hard for a couple when the situation becomes intolerable,” Belmonte said.

Aquino had earlier stressed “divorce is a no-no” in his administration.

“Definitely I cannot support something like you do in Las Vegas, like you can get married in the morning and you can get divorced in the afternoon,” he said.

The President said he prefers legal separation over divorce but noted both parties should be given freedom to remarry.

“I recognize that there have been unions that were wrong, and that no matter what interventions are done, no matter what counseling is done, they really can’t stay together,” he said. 

Nightmare

For leaders of the Catholic Church, however, divorce and other “anti-life and anti-family” measures are on the administration’s agenda.

“I do not wish to sound ‘we told you so.’ But that very statement (of Belmonte) itself reveals that the RH bill is just the beginning of an entire series of anti-family and anti-life legislation,” Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said yesterday.

“That is why the call to unity and healing of the RH bill proponents is a camouflage for further moves to erode family and life values. This government has revealed its true face. It has never been for the welfare of the family, the women and the children,” he said.

The CBCP calls proposed legislations on divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total reproductive health, homosexuality and same sex marriage “anti-family and anti-life” and collectively labels them with the acronym DEATHS.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, and Senators Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson share his concern.

Lipa, Batangas Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said the passage of the RH bill would cause a domino effect and lead to the implementation of the other DEATHS bills.

But Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said that getting a divorce bill passed might be harder to accomplish than implementing the RH bill. “The sentiment against divorce is stronger compared to the RH bill,” he said.

He said the Church should intensify efforts to educate the public on the harmful effects of divorce, pointing out, “It will also destroy the very scared nature of marriage.”

He said the faithful should use as basis for choosing officials in the May 2013 polls the latter’s stand on family and  life issues.

When asked what his message is to President Aquino, Bacani said, “I don’t have a message to him because he does not listen to what we are saying.”

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, for his part, is unfazed by the developments, saying politicians would be preoccupied with the coming elections in the next few months.  – With Christina  Mendez and Evelyn Macairan