Before our legislators pass a law on divorce, it would be wise if they pondered this one question: Can divorce effectively solve marital problems?
Different from the annulment process as provided in the Family Code and a declaration of nullity of marriage, divorce essentially dissolves an existing marriage — it is a severance of a valid matrimonial bond.
A prelate once termed it “legalized adultery.” It may perhaps settle broken marriages by allowing couples to part ways and enter into new marriages, but can it cure unhappiness?
Even if divorce is allowed in the country, there will still be controversies, and this time, they will focus on how to repeal a divorce law because as many countries have experienced, it would have caused greater social evils than it has sought to cure!
For starters, family courts will be clogged with cases involving division of property and child support. It will also be a convenient escape for the rich who can afford the high cost of
lawsuits and alimony.
Proponents say if divorce is legalized, illicit relationships will be done away with.
Hogwash! If the first marriage was no guarantee against a spouse’s infidelity, what guarantee does divorce offer in regard to the “success” of the second, third or fourth marriage?
A family expert said that “one can never be sure that a divorced spouse will not embark again on another intolerable marriage, for the root of the conflict in the first marriage has not been cured.”
If divorce is legalized, efforts to make a marriage work disappear because legalization will breed selfishness among the parents — it deters them from growing in virtue.
A psychologist once mentioned that with divorce around, marriage would be treated with less seriousness if it were known to be dissoluble.
LILIA BORLONGAN-ALVAREZ, lba.editor@gmail.com