Posted on 06/05/2023 6:29:00 PM PDT by marshmallow
The Philippines is the only place outside the Vatican where divorce is outlawed
Philippine mother-of-three Stella Sibonga is desperate to end a marriage she never wanted. But divorce in the Catholic-majority country is illegal, and a court annulment takes years.
The Philippines is the only place outside the Vatican where divorce is outlawed.
Pro-divorce advocates argue the ban makes it harder for couples to cut ties and remarry, and escape violent spouses.
People wanting to end their marriage can ask a court for an annulment or a declaration that the nuptials were invalid from the start, but the government can appeal against those decisions.
The legal process is slow and expensive -- cases can cost as much as $10,000 or more in a country plagued by poverty -- with no guarantee of success, and some people seeking a faster result fall for online scams.
"I don't understand why it has to be this difficult," said Sibonga, who has spent 11 years trying to get out of a marriage that her parents forced her into after she became pregnant.
Sibonga's legal battle began in 2012, when she applied to a court to cancel her marriage on the basis of her husband's alleged "psychological incapacity", one of the grounds for terminating a matrimony.
After five years and $3,500 in legal fees, a judge finally agreed. The former domestic worker's relief was, however, short-lived.
The Office of the Solicitor General, which as the government's legal representative is tasked with protecting the institution of marriage, successfully appealed the decision in 2019.
Sibonga said she requested the Court of Appeals to reverse its ruling, but is still waiting for an answer.
"Why are we, the ones who experienced suffering, abandonment and abuse, being punished by the law?" said Sibonga, 45, who lives near Manila.
"All we.......
(Excerpt) Read more at ucanews.com ...
perhaps she could hire a crowd to chant “crucify him” “crucify him” until the judge just washes his hands and goes home
At least that is what the nuns told us. We were under ten so they undoubtedly did not go into fine legal detail but that we had to freely consent to be married was certainly in the lesson.
Lack of legal divorce has been worse for families when husband and wife cannot reconcile, than it would have been with legal divorce. The family often splits up without the legal underpinnings of a divorce. They make arrangements with a different partner-spouse and have children with that other spouse, children that do not have full legal standing as sons or daughters of the “illegitimate” fathers. It - lack of legal divorce - really makes a mess of things.
> after she became pregnant.
It just sort of happened somehow.
The problem in the Philippines is many men abandon their wives and children and take up with another woman. Adultery is a felony over there I believe so the abandoned woman might find it harder to find another partner if she’s still married.
They are protesting a government law, not directly Church teaching. The Church indeed has an annulment process that does take the case of provably forced marriage as a factor in granting annulments. The Church even encourages civil divorce in an annulled marriage in cases where one of the spouses is in danger of abuse by the other spouse.
The federal government should have no say in marriages, divorces, nor birth certificates. All of those things lead to unintended consequences.
Gov-run marriage leads to gov-run divorce, and the interweaving of marriage/divorce into the tax code.
A marriage should be entered into a family bible or similar book, and recorded at a county-level registry.
Traps men too. There have always been exceptions, though. Violence, one spouse goes to jail, one spouse is certified insane, adultery/affairs, paternity fraud, inability to have sex, abandonment, ...
Plenty of valid biblical reasons to grant a divorce.
That is common problem here in United States as well. Large percentage of children grow up in fatherless households. Those families have higher rates of poverty and juvenile delinquency.
I do believe there is no Tagalog word for divorce. There are a lot of shotgun weddings however.
The process is also corrupt. My Filipina SIL says that bribes are usually involved, both at the church and government level.
Lack of religion. And a lot of times, they tend to be poorer. More democratic voters in the future.
I grew up in a fatherless house…..due to death .
Sometimes it can’t be avoided .
……
The term is “invalid marriage”.
And yes it’s totally invalid if you’re you’re forced to take vows. It’s not a marriage at all.
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