Eslabon, Fritz John D.

Santos, Jio Angelo S.

Are promises really meant to be broken? As everybody know, marriage is full of promises, it
contains promises that will lasts forever and must not be broken. What if when the time comes where a
man does not feel the same feeling he feels before towards his partner? Is it valid to break the promises
and choose divorce as a solution? Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other
competent body. This is the main option of the couple who does not feel being with each other anymore
but is it the only option they have? Marriage is a sacrament that a couple should keep holy and stable
therefore, divorce is not a proper way of fixing the problem of the couple for it will only worsen the
scenario.

As Catholics, the Philippines is the only country outside the Vatican City that never legalize
divorce. There are religions that has different perceptions about divorce especially in Islam and Judaism.
In the Islam community, according to the Quran, being married should be done in the right time, but when
things cannot be attained in harmony, it allows the spouses to end the marriage. It can be initiated by
man or a woman depending who will file the case. In Judaism , they also accepted divorce as a fact of life,
according to them, it is better for a two couples to divorce than to be together with bitterness and not
happy at each other. However other religion like Buddhism, they don’t have the religious concept of
marriage, but for them, marriage is just a secular affair, that is subjected for people that follows in a
culture or society. These perceptions have a big contrast when it come in the Philippines. As a roman
catholic, we believe that when two couples bound together, there is no time for turning back. Marriage is
a blessed sacrament that will last forever so when two couples started to get married. They need to
protect not for themselves but to protect each other and face problems together. And the most important
in marriage is that they have God who will be the center of the relationship. That’s why we agree that
divorce in this country is not the best solution when things get worse. But rather make things work out
and never forget the Lord that binds them together.

Divorce does not violate any rights of man. However, divorce breaks the sanctity of marriage. The
way how the couple make promises in front of the Lord and the world. Divorce become a primary option
for the couple who just want to give up what they have started and not thinking of fixing it and remember
how they started their relationship. The purpose of being married is to have companion for the rest of
someone’s life. People must remember that divorce can be a solution but it will not always be the best
one. Couple’s may have the right to divorce, but it could be lessening the chance of getting divorced when
the father has a strong influence of religion relationships with their children. According to Valerie King,
“journal of marriage and family”, this study explained how the aspects of a father’s religiousness are
related to the type of quality of involvement with his children. The results indicate that religious fathers
are more involved fathers that they report higher quality relationships which is true for both married and
divorced couples. Relating to the article, this may not be a right, but it is a responsibility as a father who
will be the great provider for their future. And also, to make a father successful, there’s always a wife that
will support him no matter what they have done because marriage is not cheap, it is valuable.

Others might think that the other way for making the marriage not valid is to get annulled, but is
it humane? Annulment is more humane than divorce because the grounds for approving the annulment
must happen before the marriage or the problem occur before the marriage unlike in the divorce. Divorce
does not consider when or how the problem occur, if the couple want to dissolve their marriage, they will
just file a divorce. Annulment will just void the marriage between the couple while the divorce will make
the marriage dissolved and the status of the couple will become single again. In annulment, there is still a
connection between the couple and their siblings, they still share the same responsibility of giving the
needs of the siblings while in divorce there are just strict arrangement about handling their siblings. There
are rules provided by the court to be followed by the couple. According to Philippine Annulment
Attorneys, there are lot of things to be considered before trying to end a marriage, if the time comes
where the couple really needs to separate, it is best for them to annul their marriage than the divorce for
it is more humane and considers and respect the marriage.

This time, are you sure that your promise is worth to keep? Marriage is not just about happy
ending but working out all the hindrances in life and making it colorful together. The important thing here
is that it takes time to find the person that you want to spend with the rest of your life. And when the
harmony cannot be obtained, divorce is not the best solution to deal with because it’s an impulsive
decision and not humane. Being married is a big responsibility for a couple because it is sacred, therefore,
it must be decided when the couples are really devoted to enter the sacrament of marriage. It takes time,
patience, understanding and especially forgiveness because those who truly know how to understand
their partner, no matter how hurtful it is or how bad it was, as long as they accept their flaws and
weaknesses. they will realize that there will always be a person who will stay there and will love you until
the end of time.