Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

2593

House Bill No.

Introduced by Rep. Ronald V.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In the Philippines, a married couple cannot divorce by law. A husband and wife can choose
to file for legal separation, which will allow them to separate their possessions and live apart, but
this will not legally end a marital union. Thus, remarriage is not permitted. Therefore, it is safe to
say that a Filipino husband and wife can only part through death, or through torturous and costly
annulment proceedings.

The process of annulment, which is extremely adversarial in nature, tends to escalate the
tension between the spouses and ultimately affect the well-being of their common children. As a
result, most couples are forced to remain in their unhappy, dysfunctional or even abusive
marriages.

This bill intends to give full relief to couples in intolerable and irreconcilable conditions,
which full relief is not available under legal separation, annulment of marriage, and declaration of

nullity of marriage under the Family Code of the Philippines which are tedious and expensive.

In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought

RONALD V. SINGSON


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 2 5 9 3

Introduced by Rep. Ronald V.

ingson

AN ACT
REINSTITUTING ABSOLUTE DIVORCE AS AN ALTERNATIVE MODE FOR THE
DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

Be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Congress of the
Philippines in session assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Absolute Divorce Act’.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - While the State continues to protect and preserve
marriage as a social institution and as the foundation of the family, it shall also give the
‘opportunity to spouses in irremediably failed marriages to secure an absolute divorce decree
as an altemative mode for the dissolution of an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage
under limited grounds and well-defined judicial procedures; save the children from the pain,
stress, and agony consequent to their parents’ constant marital clashes or irreconcilable
separation; and grant the divorced spouses the right to marry again for another chance to
achieve marital bliss.

SEC. 3. Guiding Principles. — The following shall be the guiding principles of this
Act:

1. Absolute divorce shall be judicially decreed after the fact of an irremediably
broken marriage.

2. The State shall assure that the court proceedings for the grant of absolute
divorce shall be affordable, expeditious, and inexpensive, particularly for indigent litigants.

3. Concerned spouses have the option to file for absolute divorce under this Act
or seek legal separation, annulment of marriage or nullification of marriage under the pertinent
provisions of Executive Order No. 209 otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.

4. A six-month cooling-off period is instituted after the filing of a petition for
absolute divorce as a final attempt for reconciliation of concemed spouses.

5. __ Adivorce decree shall include provisions for the care and custody of children,
protection of their legitime, termination and liquidation of the conjugal partnership of gains or
the absolute community, and alimony for the aggrieved or innocent spouse

6. Even as absolute divorce is reinstituted, the State has the mandate of
strengthening marriage and family life by undertaking, among others, relevant pre-nuptial and
post-matrimonial programs and activities adequately funded by the government.


‘SEC. 4. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

a) Abandonment refers to the act of a spouse leaving the conjugal home without
justifiable cause and with a deliberate intention of creating a perpetual separation. The
desertion amounts to an absolute cessation of marital relations, rights and duties. The
abandonment may also be physical estrangement, or financial desertion;

b) Absolute divorce refers to the judicial dissolution of a marriage or the
termination of the bond of matrimony where the spouses retum to their status of being single
with the right to contract marriage again;

¢) Alcoholism refers to excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages at a level
that interferes with physical or mental health, and social, family, or occupational
responsibilities;

d) Alimony refers to spousal support made under court order to a divorced person
by the former spouse;

e) _Bigamous marriage refers to a second or subsequent marriage contracted
before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been
declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings;

f) Child refers to a descendant of the first degree by birth, and shall include an
offspring by legal adoption or one whose custody and care is judicially decreed to be given to
a guardian;

9) Child custody refers to the parental authority and care of a child as decreed by
‘@ competent court when the parents of the child are divorced;

h) _ Child support refers to a method of compensating a parent needing financial
support for raising and sheltering a child or children by the other parent who has the means to
pay for the expenses associated with child support. The proper court shall determine the
payments, based on the income level of the parent giving support and the needs of the child
or children requiring support;

i) Chronic gambling refers to a disorder of impulse control in which a person
makes habitual waging in games of chance which compromise, disrupt or damage family, work
and social relations, and vocational pursuits;

i) ___ Competent court refers to the proper family court established under Republic
Act No. 8369 or the “Family Courts Act of 1997”, which shall exercise jurisdiction both over
the absolute divorce proceeding and the persons of the petitioner and respondent spouses;

k) _Court-assisted petitioner refers to a petitioner-spouse who has personal or real
properties not exceeding Two million five hundred thousand pesos (PhP2,500,000.00);

1) Domestic or marital abuse refers to violence or aggressive behavior within the
home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse by the other which may be committed
through:

(1) physical violence,

(2) psychological and emotional violence,
(3) sexual violence, or

(4) economic abuse;


m) —_ Drug addiction refers to habitual dependence on a prohibited drug or drugs;

1) Insanity refers to a neurologic or psychiatric condition characterized by the
existence of a recognizable, clinically-significant disturbance in an individuat's cognition,
emotional regulation, or behavior that reflects a genetic or acquired dysfunction in the
neurological, psychosocial, or developmental process underlying mental functioning;

©) irreconcilable differences refer to the substantial incompatibility of the spouses due
to their intransigence or fault by holding on to divergent and divisive behavior resulting to the
total breakdown of their marriage which could not be repaired despite eamest efforts to
reconcile;

) Legitime refers to the portion of a parent's estate from which they cannot disinherit
the children, without sufficient legal cause;

@) Marital infidelity refers to the extramarital sexual relations of a spouse;
1) Overseas Filipinos refer to Filipino migrant workers, other Filipino nationals and their

dependents abroad or as defined under Sec. 3 of Republic Act No. 8042, as amended,
otherwise known as the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995"

s) Psychological incapacity refers to the condition provided for in Article 36 of the
Family Code of the Philippines which warrants the nullification of a marriage;

t) Sex reassignment surgery refers to the procedure by which a person's physical
appearance and function of primary sex characteristics are altered to resemble that of the
identified or preferred gender;

u) Summary judicial proceedings refer to an expeditious manner of resolving a
petition for divorce without regard to technical rules and the petitioner is given the option to be
assisted or not by a lawyer. The proper court may allow presentation of evidence ex parte as
warranted by circumstances. The decision shall be immediately final and executory;

v) __ Transgender refers to those whose gender identity or expression differs from
what is typically associated with the sex at birth;

w) Transsexual refers to a person who emotionally and psychologically feels that
‘one belongs to the opposite sex, and who opts for a transition from one sex to another through
the use of hormones or surgical procedure.

SEC. 5. Grounds for Absolute Divorce. - The following are the grounds for a judicial
decree of absolute divorce:

a) The grounds for legal separation under Article 55 of the Family Code of the
Philippines, modified or amended, as follows:

(1) Physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a
common child, or a child of the petitioner;

(2) Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious
or political affiliation;

(3) Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a
child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such corruption or
inducement;


(4) Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than six (6)
years, even if pardoned;

(5) Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism or chronic gambling of the respondent;

(6) _ Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether in
the Philippines or abroad;

(7) Marital infidelity or perversion or having a child with another person other than
one’s spouse during the marriage, except when upon the mutual agreement of the spouses,
a child is bom to them by in vitro or a similar procedure or when the wife bears a child after
being a victim of rape;

(8) Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner, a common child or
a child of the petitioner;

(2) _ Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more
than one (1) year;

When the spouses are legally separated by judicial decree under Article 55 of the
Family Code of the Philippines, a two (2) year period from the time of the issuance of the
decree of legal separation will suffice;

b) —_ Grounds for annulment of marriage under Article 45 of the Family Code of the
Philippines, restated as follows:

(1) The party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was
eighteen (18) years of age or over but below twenty-one (21), and the marriage was
solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute
parental authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of twenty-one
(21), such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and
wife;

(2) _ Either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason,
freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

(3) _ The consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party
afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the
other as husband and wife;

(4) The consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue
influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely
cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

(5) _ Either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the
other, and such incapacity continues or appears to be incurable;

(6) _ Either party was afflicted with a sexually transmissible infection found to be
serious or appears to be incurable:

Provided, That the grounds mentioned in numbers 2, 5 and 6 existed either at the time
of the marriage or supervenes after the mariage.


©) __ When the spouses have been separated in fact for at least five (5) years at the
time the petition for absolute divorce is filed, and reconciliation is highly improbable.

d) Psychological incapacity of either spouse as provided for in Article 36 of the
Family Code of the Philippines, whether or not the incapacity existed at the time of the
marriage or supervenes after the mariage.

e) When one of the spouses undergoes a gender reassignment surgery or
transitions from one sex to another, the other spouse is entitled to petition for absolute divorce
with the transgender or transsexual as respondent, or vice versa.

f) _Irreconcilable marital differences as defined in the preceding Sec. 4.0.

g) Other forms of domestic or marital abuse as defined under Sec. 4. I

The grant of absolute divorce based on domestic or marital abuse or violation of
Republic Act No. 9262 otherwise known as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their
Children Act of 2004” shall be without prejudice to the prosecution of the errant spouse under
the said Act.

fh) When a valid Foreign Divorce has been secured by either the alien or Filipino
spouse.

In order that a foreign divorce can be recognized as a ground for divorce or shall have
the effect of a divorce under this Act, without going through the judicial process, said foreign
divorce must be authenticated by the Philippine Consul in or proximate to the foreign country
where it was secured, and subsequently filed with the proper civil registrar in the Philippines
or the Office of the Philippine Consul abroad where the Filipino spouse is residing.

i) Whena marriage is nullified or dissolved by the proper matrimonial tribunal of
the Roman Catholic Church or any other recognized religious sect or denomination which may
have their own matrimonial tribunal, the said nullified or dissolved marriage shall constitute a
ground for divorce or shall have the effect of a divorce under this Act, without going through
the judicial process, when it is authenticated by the proper authorities of the Roman Catholic
church or any other recognized religious sect or denomination, and registered with the proper
civil registrar in the Philippines.

SEC. 6. Procedure for Obtaining Absolute Divorce. — (a) The established and
recognized procedures for securing legal separation, annulment of marriage, and voiding of a
mariage under the Family Code of the Philippines, as far as practicable, and not in conflict
with this Act, shall govem the process of obtaining a judicial decree of absolute divorce from
the proper family court which shall be commenced by the petitioner filing a verified petition for
absolute divorce.

(b) The factors and grounds which militate against the grant of legal separation and
the annulment and nullification of marriages as provided for in the Family Code of the
Philippines shall likewise be assessed, based on competent and credible proof, against the
grant of absolute divorce.

(©) Upon application as a court-assisted petitioner, the proper court shall waive the
payment of filing fees and other costs of litigation, and shall appoint a counsel de oficio for
court assisted petitioner and assign social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists,
preferably from appropriate goverment agencies, to assist the said petitioner and the court
free of charge.


(d) All creditors of the absolute community or of the conjugal partnership of gains, as
well as the personal creditors of the spouses, shall be listed in the petition for absolute divorce
and notified of the filing thereof. The court shall take measures to protect the creditors and
other persons with pecuniary interest.

(e) No decree of absolute divorce shall be based upon a stipulation of facts or a
confession of judgment.

(f) Public Prosecutors in provinces, cities and capital towns are authorized and obliged
to conduct investigations to find out whether or not there is collusion between the spouses in
a petition for absolute divorce or a spouse has coerced the other to file the petition and shall
report their findings to the proper court within six (6) months from the filing of the petition.

SEC. 7. Overseas Filipino. — Petitioners who are overseas Filipinos shall be given
priority by the proper court with respect to the hearing of their petitions and the court shall set
the reception of evidence, upon the availabilty of the petitioners, for not more than two (2)
consecutive days.

SEC. 8. Summary Judicial Proceedings. - The following grounds for absolute
divorce may be subject to summary judicial proceedings as defined in Sec. 4. u:

(2) When the spouses have been separated de facto for at least five (5) years;
(b) When one of the spouses has contracted a bigamous mariage;

(c) When the spouses have been legally separated by judicial decree for two (2)
years or more;

(4) When one of the spouses has been sentenced to imprisonment for six (6)
years, even if subsequently pardoned; and

(e) __ When one of the spouses has undergone a sex reassignment surgery or has
transitioned into another sex.

SEC. 9. Mandatory Six-month Cooling-off Period. - Except for grounds under
‘summary judicial proceedings, the proper court shall not start the trial of a petition for absolute
divorce before the expiration of a six-month cooling-off period after the filing of the petition
during which the court shall exercise all efforts to reunite and reconcile the parties.

The requirement of a cooling-off period shall not apply in cases which involve acts
of violence against women and their children under Republic Act No. 9262 otherwise known
as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004” or attempt against the
life of the other spouse or a common child or a child of the petitioner.

SEC. 10. Waiver of Expert Testimony. — Expert testimony shall be dispensed with
unless the court decides that such testimony is indispensable in deciding the petition for
divorce.

SEC. 11. Effects of Absolute Divorce. — The decree of absolute divorce shall have
the following effects:

a) The marriage bond shall be severed and the divorced spouses shall have the
right to contract marriage again;


b) The custody of the minor children shall be decided by the proper court in
accordance with the best interests of the children, subject to the provisions of Article 213 of
the Family Code of the Philippines taking into primary consideration that no child under seven
(7) years of age shall be separated from the mother, unless the proper court finds compelling
reasons to order otherwise;

c) The conjugal partnership of gains or the absolute community shail be dissolved
and liquidated and the assets shall be equally divided between the spouses excluding the
paraphemal or exclusive properties of either spouse. The recognition and delivery of the
Presumptive legitime to the common children shall be ordered by the court, taking into
Consideration the interests of the children and the protection of their legitime from dissipation.
The presumptive legitime shall be computed as of the date of the finality of the decree of
absolute divorce. The partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses and the
delivery of the children’s presumptive legitime shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry
and registry of deeds, otherwise the same shall not affect third persons;

d) In addition to the equal share in the assets of the absolute community or
conjugal partnership, the petitioner who is not gainfully employed shall be entitled to spousal
support or alimony from the respondent until the petitioner finds adequate employment:
Provided, That the support shall not exceed two (2) years from the finality of the decree of
absolute divorce and shall cease upon the petitioner's remarriage; Provided, Further, That the
right to support shall be subject to the provisions of Article 201 of the Family Code of the
Philippines where the amount of support shall be in proportion to the resources or means of
the obligor and to the necessities of the obligee;

) The proper court shall have the discretion to grant spousal support or alimony,
child support and child custody pursuant to the pertinent provisions of the Family Code of the
Philippines, and impose contempt of court against the defaulting parties. The necessity of
alimony and the amount shall be determined by the court taking into consideration all relevant
factors;

1) __ The petitioner may revoke the donations made in favor of the respondent, as
well as the designation of the latter as a beneficiary in any insurance policy, even if such
designation be stipulated as imevocable. The revocation of the donations shall be recorded in
the registries of properties in the places where the properties are located. Alienations, liens
and encumbrances registered in good faith before the recording of the complaint for revocation
in the registry of property shall be respected. The revocation of or a change in the designation
of the insurance beneficiary shall take effect upon written notification thereof to the beneficiary.

The action to revoke the donation under this provision must be brought within five (5)
years from the time the decree of absolute divorce has become final;

9) The effects on the divorced spouses with respect to intestate succession,
testamentary dispositions, donations and insurance provisions on beneficiaries in accordance
with the Family Code of the Philippines and jurisprudence will be observed; and

h) _The legitimate and adopted children of divorced parents shall retain their legal
status and legitimacy; a child conceived or born within 300 days after the filing of a petition for
absolute divorce shall be considered legitimate, unless the ground for divorce is the marital
infidelity of the wife.

SEC. 12. Award for Damages. - The proper court may, as warranted by evidence,
award actual, moral, and exemplary damages as provided for under the New Civil Code to the
innocent spouse against the errant spouse.


SEC. 13. Conversion of Pending Petitions. — Parties who have pending petitions
under Articles 36, 45, and 55 of the Family Code of the Philippines may convert their petitions
to an action for absolute divorce under this Act without paying filing fees.

SEC. 14. Recognition of Reconciliation. — (a) If the petitioners have agreed to
reconcile, a corresponding joint manifestation under oath duly signed by them shall be filed
with the same court where the petition for absolute divorce was filed with the interests of the
children duly protected.

(b) The plan to reconcile shall have the following consequences:

(1) The absolute divorce proceedings, if still pending, shall be terminated
at whatever stage, and

(2) The final decree of absolute divorce shall be set aside, but the
separation of property and any forfeiture of the share of the respondent already
effected shall subsist, unless the spouses agree to revive their former property
regime.

The court order containing the foregoing shall be recorded in the proper civil registries.

(c) The agreement to revive the former property regime referred to in this Act shall be
‘executed under oath and shall specify:

(1) the properties to be contributed anew to the restored regime;
(2) those to be retained as separate properties of each spouse; and

(3) _ the names of all their known creditors, their addresses and the amounts
owing to each.

The agreement of revival and the motion for its approval shall be filed with the court
in the same proceeding for absolute divorce, with copies of both fumished to the creditors
named therein. After due hearing, the court shall issue an order to protect the interest of
creditors and such order shall be recorded in the proper registry of deeds.

The recording of the order in the proper registry of deeds shall not prejudice any
creditor not listed or not notified.

SEC. 15. Penalty. - A spouse who is a party to a petition for absolute divorce who is
found by the court to have used threats or coercion to compel the other spouse in filing the
petition, and spouses who are guilty of collusion, shall be punished with imprisonment of five
(6) years and a fine of Five hundred thousand pesos (PhP500,000.00).

‘Any person in default of providing court-ordered child support and/or court-ordered
spousal support/alimony, shall be punished by prision mayor and shall be fined in the amount
of one hundred thousand pesos (Php 100,000.00) to not more than three hundred thousand
pesos (Php 300,000.00) on top of the unpaid child support and/or spousal support/alimony
with compounding legal interest computed from date of default until full payment. Interest due
on the principal amount accruing as of judicial demand shall separately eam legal interest
from time of judicial demand until full payment.

‘SEC. 16. Options and Remedies. - The concemed spouse shall have the option to
file a petition for dissolution of marriage, annulment of marriage, or legal separation under
Articles 36, 45, and 55, respectively, of the Family Code of the Philippines.


SEC. 17. Application for a Court-Assisted Petition. — A petitioner-spouse may
apply for a court-assisted petition in obtaining absolute divorce. Upon approval of the
application, the proper court shall waive the payment of all forms of filing fees and other costs
of litigation and shall appoint a Counsel de oficio in favor of court-assisted petitioner or
petitioners and shall assign such number of social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists
as may be necessary from a pool of accredited social workers and practitioners recognized
by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of
Justice (DO4), to assist the petitioner free of charge.

‘SEC. 18. Community-Based Women’s Desk. - The frontline desk in every barangay
established under Republic Act 9710 or the "Magna Carta of Women” shall be readily available
and easily accessible to provide support and assistance to victims, especially women, of all
forms of abuse and acts of violence identified under this Act and those provided under RA
9262 or the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.”

SEC. 19. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). ~ The Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) as lead agency, together with the Philippine Commission
‘on Women (PCW), the National Youth Commission (NYC), and at least two (2) representatives
from women’s organizations, to be appointed by the PCW in consultation with civil society and
women’s organizations shall promulgate the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) within
sixty (60) days after the effectivity of this Act.

SEC. 20. Separability Clause. - if any part or provision of this Act is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect

SEC. 21. Repealing Clause. — All laws, executive orders, issuances, decrees, rules
and regulations inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act are deemed
amended, modified or repealed accordingly.

SEC. 22. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,