The effect of a divorce decree and one of nullity are
certainly different. It is true that after a divorce
decree the parties become strangers in the eyes of the
law. Each may sue the other as though no marriage
had existed; the relationship by affinity is
terminated;4 the parties are no longer disqualified
from testifying in a suit in which the other is
concerned on the ground of interest;5 the wife may
be a competent witness in a criminal case against the
former husband as to matters arising after the
divorce.6 But there is real significance in the
statement that the relation is destroyed " as if by
death." 7 It once had a lawful existence, of which the
legal consequences continue even though the relation
itself has terminated. Offspring born or conceived
during the wedlock are legitimate;8 personal choses
of the wife, already reduced to possession by the
husband remain his.9 Communications between the
parties made during the time of wedlock come within
the rule excluding the admission in evidence of
confidential communications between the husband
and wife.'0
An annulment cuts deeper. The woman, after such a
decree, can sue a seducer not withstanding a form of
marriage between them, which if valid would have
defeated the action."1 Communications made
between the parties after the marriage and prior to the
decree are not treated as confidential communications
between husband and wife, and there is no
prohibition upon their admissibility in evidence. The
husband acquires no rights in the wife's property.13
The woman may maintain an action against the man
for the wrongful cohabitation.14 She is not entitled to
the home- stead exemption given a divorced wife.15
Unless a statute protects them, the children of the
parties are illegitimate.
Divorce in ecclesiastical law, and in the sense in
which these writers are using the term, meant two
things: first, divorce a mensa, or modem judicial
separation, after which, as Coke says," the overture
continueth;" second, annulment, which then as now
was declared
Matthew 19:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce
your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was
not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that
anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual
immorality, and marries another woman commits
adultery.”
Preamble of the Philippines:We, the sovereign
Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God,
in order to build a just and humane society and
establish a Government that shall embody our ideals
and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve
and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves
and our posterity the blessings of independence and
democracy under the rule of law and a regime of
truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace,
do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
In his 2012 book You Can Be Right or You Can Be
Married, Dana Adam Shapiro wrote that as few
as 17 percent of couples are content in their partner. 
Vicki Larson, journalist and co-author of The New I
Do, Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and
Rebels, sites that six of every 10 are unhappily
coupled and four out of 10 have considered leaving
their partner. 
Annulment restricts marriage.
Like thousands of Filipinos, he did it through a civil
procedure called annulment, whereby a judge
declares a marriage invalid, generally because the
spouses had a "psychological incapacity".
 It requires applicants to undergo a mental exam,
testify in court and sometimes even claim they or
their spouse entered the union with a disorder like
narcissism.
 
The process can take anywhere from one to 10 years
to wind through the creakingly slow and
overburdened Philippine court system, costing at
least $4,800 or Php.259,543.20
Negative Divorce:( Strengths)
Costs too much
Annulment already exists.
Bible is against with divorce.
Marriage is sacred
Affirmative Divorce(strengths)
People have freedom to let go legally.
Conscience of people whether they accord the Bible
Divorce should be seen holistically.
Torture for children.
As of 14 march 2018,The house representatives has
approved the proposed law on second reading. It still
has to go through a third and final reading with the
House of Representatives and then to the senate.
"Filipinos have become more open. They've been
exposed to norms from other countries," said Jean
Franco, political science assistant professor at the
University of the Philippines.
Currently, the only legal recourse available to
Filipinos who want to exit a failed union is through
an annulment or a petition for legal separation. These
two options have different grounds and end results.
 
Under the Family Code of the Philippines, a marriage
may be annulled if any of the following grounds
exist: lack of parental consent, psychological
incapacity, fraud, marriage by force or intimidation,
inability to consummate the marriage and if one party
has contracted a sexually-transmissible disease. The
1987 Family Code was introduced under the
presidency of Corazon Aquino.
Those seeking annulment must undergo a mental
exam, testify in court and sometimes even claim they
or their spouse entered the union while afflicted by a
psychological disorder. The process can cost at least
P250,000 and take anywhere from one to 10 years
given the congestion in Philippine court dockets.
 
Meanwhile, a petition for legal separation requires
any of the following grounds: repeated physical
abuse from partner, coercion to change religious or
political affiliation, attempt of respondent to corrupt
petitioner or their child to engage in prostitution,
respondent meted with imprisonment of more than 6
years, drug addiction of spouse, lesbianism or
homosexuality, bigamous marriage, sexual infidelity
or perversion, attempt against the life of spouse and
abandonment without justifiable cause for more than
a year.
 
If the petition is granted, the couple may live
separately from each other. The conjugal partnership
is also dissolved, but the marriage bonds are still in
effect.
 
Annulment also allows remarriage but legal
separation does not.
right to end the contract and exit the failed
relationship.)
 
Gabriela Women's Party has been pushing for the
legalization of divorce since the 13th Congress when
it first secured seats in the lower chamber.
Muslims in the Philippines, however, are not covered
by the ban on divorce. Presidential Decree No. 1083,
signed by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr.,
provides that a couple married under the Muslim laws
"have the right to divorce."
REFERENCES
Are You Among the Growing Number of Unhappy
Married People? (2017, September 27). Retrieved
from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contempl
ating-divorce/201709/are-you-among-the-growing-
number-unhappy-married-people
Jimeno, N. (2013, June 28). Legal Expert Discuss
Legal Options if You're in an Abusive Relationship.
Retrieved from
https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/life/love-
relationships/abusive-relationships
Legalizing divorce in the Philippines: What you need
to know. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/20/1798
661/legalizing-divorce-philippines-what-you-need-
know

"We merely ask that they consider the possibility that

divorce, while it may indeed provide quick legal
remedies for some seemingly 'failed marriages,'
might end up destroying even those marriages that
could have been saved by dialogues or the
intervention of family, friends, pastors and
counselors," Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of
the CBCP, said.
 
The CBCP, however, cannot participate in the bill's
interpellations. Some also raised the separation of the
Church and State as enshrined in the 1987
Constitution.
 
Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Emmi de Jesus in a
statement after the bill hurdled the lower house
reiterated calls for its legalization.
 
(Entering the contract of marriage, that is recognized
by the state, is a right. A right that has corresponding
obligations which must be met by both sides. There
should be love, respect, support and other factors that
ensure a happy and healthy relationship.) 

(If there are violations of these obligations, that

sometimes even endangers the life and sanity of the
couple, it is just for the state to also recognize their