Useless vow

As usual, my Philippine STAR article yesterday (No need for a divorce law) elicited reactions arising from lack of proper understanding or simple refusal to see the adequacy of the remedies available to parties in an allegedly irreparable marriages already provided by the existing laws. It is quite clear that under the Family Code, aggrieved spouses have a satisfactory way out and sufficient remedies to vindicate the wrong done by the offending spouse and protect the rights, interest and welfare of the aggrieved spouses and the children.

These reactions obviously come from those with intentions other than getting out of failed marriages. Actually they support the proposed bill on divorce because said bill also grants the right to remarry which, under existing laws, is available only if the marriage is annulled or declared void on grounds therein provided. The present grounds enable the parties to marry again only because of the inherent defects rendering the marriage voidable or because a marriage bond is never created from the very beginning due to lack of formal and essential requirements or by reason of public policy (void ab initio).

But in the proposed divorce bill, the right to remarry is made available even if there is no inherent defect in the present marriage or there is a valid and existing marriage bond. The right is given on such flimsy, shallow and vague grounds as “irreconcilable differences” between married couples or “irreparable breakdown” of their marriage.

Needless to say, the bill mocks the concept of marriage as an inviolable social institution deeply enshrined in our Constitution. In the proposed bill men and women can take their marriage vows even with a hidden purpose of evasion or with mental reservation. It will no longer be “till death do us part” but “till divorce do us part”. It rewards the “two timing” or “left-turning” spouses who cause the irreparable breakdown of the marriage by endowing them with the right to remarry every time they commit infidelities. The worst part here is that these offending spouses are freed from any criminal liability for their acts. They cannot even be prosecuted anymore for bigamy if they get married again.

Thus the proposed divorce bill benefits the guilty spouse more than the innocent ones. Also benefited are lawyers. Divorce cannot be obtained without the services of lawyers. Indeed in America, divorce lawyers earn one of the most lucrative fees. In this connection let me share with you this joke I came across in the internet. The joke is on us lawyers but I won’t mind sharing it just to show the lawyers’ role in divorce cases:

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple was involved in a fatal car accident. The couple found themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to process them into Heaven. While waiting they began to wonder; Could they possibly get married in heaven?

When St. Peter arrived they asked him if they could get married in Heaven. St. Peter said, “I don’t know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out,” and he left.

The couple sat and waited for an answer…For a couple of months.

While they waited, they discussed the pros and cons. If they were allowed to get married in Heaven, should they get married, what with the eternal aspect of it all? “What if it doesn’t work? Are we stuck in Heaven together forever?”

Another month passed. St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled.

“Yes,” he informed the couple. “You can get married in Heaven.”

“Great!” said the couple. “But we were just wondering; what if things don’t work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?”

St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” asked the frightened couple.

“OH, COME ON!!!” St. Peter shouted. “It took me 3 months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it’ll take to find a lawyer???” –Jose C. Sison (The Philippine Star)

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Note: Books containing compilation of my articles on Labor Law and Criminal Law (Vols. I and II) are now available. Call tel. 7249445.

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E-mail at: jcson@pldtdsl.net