Lagman defends divorce bill's passage
ALBAY 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman defended the absolute divorce bill's passage in the House of Representatives.
House Bill 9349 was approved on third and final reading last Wednesday.
In a statement on Saturday, Lagman said that «the more vociferous detractors» continued to «trample on the clear and well-accepted rule on the reckoning of the winning votes.»
«An ordinary bill like reinstituting divorce needs the approval on third reading of only at least a majority of one more affirmative (yes) vote over the negative (no) voted when there is a quorum, while the abstentions are not considered in the counting as they are neither 'yes' nor 'no' votes,» he said.
«The majority of the entire membership of the House or the majority of the quorum is not required for the approval on third reading of a simple divorce bill,» he said.
Lagman said that under Section 117, Rule XVII of the House rules, an abstention is not counted as a vote.
«Unless otherwise provided by the Construction or by these rules, a majority of those voting, there being a quorum, shall decide the issue,» he said.
Advertisement«Whether the winning margin is 126 to 109 as initially reported or 131 to 109 as later corrected by the Office of the Secretary General does not affect the ultimate legality of the final approval of the divorce bill,» Lagman said.
Twenty lawmakers had abstained from voting.
Lagman said it «is completely baseless to assert that a 'sacramental marriage' or church wedding will not be covered by a future divorce law. A church marriage is recognized as a civilly valid marriage under the Family Code and is regulated like civil marriages by the secular laws on marriage.»
He said he respects the views of those who oppose the bill.
AdvertisementThe bill mandates a 60-day period after a divorce petition is filed wherein the court must try to reconcile the parties unless it is a summary judicial proceeding or involves cases of violence.
Summary judicial proceedings are allowed under the bill in cases of de facto separation for at least five years or legal separation for at least two years; a bigamous marriage; a sentence of imprisonment for at least six years; or sex reassignment surgery or
