Escudero remains neutral on absolute divorce bill

Senate President Francis Escudero stated on Thursday that he will not take a stance for or against the bill seeking to legalize absolute divorce in the country.

Escudero emphasized during a press briefing that he has yet to read a copy of House Bill 9349, which passed its third and final reading at the House of Representatives with 131 votes in favor, 109 against, and 20 abstentions.

He stressed that each senator will make their decision based on personal conscience, beliefs, and religion, without party-line voting.

Escudero also pushed for making annulment more affordable and accessible by allowing the Public Attorney's Office to handle these cases and defining psychological incapacity clearly in the Family Code.

The bill legalizes divorce under various grounds including psychological incapacity, irreconcilable differences, domestic abuse, and separation of spouses for at least five years.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, author of the bill, noted that legalizing divorce acknowledges individuals trapped in unhappy and irreparable marriages, while the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines criticized the bill's passage as a betrayal to their constitutional mandate to uphold marriage and family.