‘Divorce bill has slim chance of getting Senate approval’

SENATE president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday said there is a slim chance the divorce bill will be passed in the Senate.

“Dadaan yan sa butas ng karayom (It will pass through the eye of a needle),” Estrada said at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.

Estrada has conducted an informal survey among his fellow senators to determine their stand on the bill.

As of May 28, he said, he and four other senators are against the divorce bill. The four were Senate President Francis Escudero, and Senators Francis Tolentino, Joel Villanueva, and Ronald dela Rosa.

In favor were also five senators — Robin Padilla, Grace Poe, Risa Hontiveros, Imee Marcos, and Raffy Tulfo.

Estrada said he has yet to talk with the rest of the “Solid 7” regarding their stand on the divorce measure, although Juan Miguel Zubiri, along with Villanueva, have said they are opposed to the measure.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, in media interviews, has said she is against the bill.

Estrada also said he has apologized to his colleagues as some of them questioned his move to publicly disclose results of the informal survey which he said he conducted “out of curiosity.”

Estrada said he is very much in favor of just simplifying and making affordable the process of annulment, rather than push for the passage of the divorce bill.