Rep. Enrile says YES to divorce

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines   – Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. (1st dist., Cagayan) expressed support to the Divorce Bill now pending in the House.

Citing his personal experience, Enrile found divorce an opportunity to strengthen the family as the basic unit of the community contrary to the argument that it would only tempt couples to break their vows instead of exploring other means to keep it.

Enrile, who was in this city for consultations, said he was only 19 and his first wife 16 when they got married, and they went to the United States to file a divorce when their union went awry and even direly affected their children.

When he later met the Salvacion Santiago, former representative of Cagayan, he said he finally had the chance to build a happy family which has been a picture of a strong unit of society for 22 years to date.

Divorce does not always end up disintegrating the essence of “family” as the basic unit of society, he said, although he respected the objection of the Catholic Church against the bill.

Without divorce, couples might be afraid to enter marriage and tend to just live together without even going through the sacrament that the Church upholds. He said it is now high time that Filipinos start discussing divorce and for legislators to draft a good version of it for the conservative Philippines, Enrile said.

“It need not lead to the extent of downplaying the essence of marriage and sacrificing the welfare of the children. The divorce law must be crafted in a way not to take marriage easy and insignificant,” he said. (FREEMAN)