Chapter 1

The Title and Its Background

Introduction

Today, the Philippines is one of only two states aside from Vatican who do not

have a divorce law.1 There is call from people, political groups and senators to enact a

divorce law but there is also other people, senators and other religious group that are

against it. During the first quarter of 2015, a survey released by pollster Social Weather

Stations revealed that at least 60 percent of Filipinos want divorce to be legalized

especially for irreconcilably separated couples. 2 There are many divorce bill filed in the

past but they are all for naught.

With the start of the term of our new president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his call

for true change and liberal approach to politics, there might be a chance that this

divorce bill will at last, be made into law. From this trend, there must be a deep study

about a divorce law that will greatly help the community and the legislature to know the

pros and cons of the said law. The study aims to answer this question.

The study will use cross-sectional/interdisciplinary analysis in order to explain,

relate and defined law from three different discipline which are law, psychology and

religion. Furthermore, the study will also weigh its advantages and disadvantages.

1 De Leon, S.L. (2014). The fight to make divorce legal in the Philippines. Retrieved
from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/06/world/asia/philippines-legal-divorce-battle/

2 Wordpress.com (2015). Violence against Women and Children. Retrieved from

https://divorceinthephilippinesblog.wordpress.com/
Background of the study

With another divorce bill recently filed by Albay Representative, Edsel Lagman on

June, 2016 the issue regarding divorce has become once again popular. With this, the

researcher is inspired to research about the effects, advantage and disadvantage of the

legalization of a divorce bill in the Philippines and taking into consideration three vital

disciplinary approaches closely related to this which are law, psychology and religion.

By researching this, the researcher is hoping that the study can help in answering some

important points that can help our legislators and our community to know the pros and

cons of a divorce decree.

Statement of the Problem

The study seeks to explain and relate the possible effect of law, psychology and

religion to the possible legalization of divorce in the Philippines. Specifically, the study

aims to answer the following questions:

1. How may divorce and its effect be defined and compare in terms of:
a. Law
b. Psychology
c. Religion
2. What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of enacting a

divorce in the Philippines?

Hypothesis:

1. The passage of an absolute divorce law is advantageous to the Philippine

community.

Significance of the study

 The study being one of the most popular issue today will most likely be beneficial to

the following:

To the law makers, the study can serve as a reference for the legislative branch

in enacting or not the divorce law in the Philippines.

To law practitioner, lover and students, the study can serve as addition in the

pool of knowledge regarding the topic.

To the community, the study can inform and raise awareness to the public the

possible advantage and disadvantage of the . Divorce bill.

To the future researchers, the study can serve as reference for those future

researchers that intends to pursue similar study.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study was intended to compare and analyze the possible effect of the

legalization of divorce in the Philippines. Furthermore, it also intends to know the

advantage and disadvantage of enacting a divorce bill in the Philippines. There are

many types of divorce but the study will mainly focus on the absolute divorce decree..

The participants of the study will be limited to persons who have experience in

divorce and those persons who are subject matter experts in law, psychology and

religion. Due to different schedule of the participants, interview schedule and venue will

be limited by the participants availability.

Definition of Terms

Divorce

Law

Psychology

Religion
II. Review of Related Literature

Review of Related Literature and Related Studies

Divorce defined and its History

Divorce and Law

The 1987 Constitution

The Constitution recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation.

Accordingly, it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development

(Constitution, Art. XV, Sec. 1).3 De Leon (2005) said that the State is mandated to

strengthen the Family solidarity and actively promote its total development. It means the

full physical, mental, and moral development of the family.4 This constitutional provision

believes that the better the home, the better the nation and as such the legalization of

the divorce bill shall be promoted if it can improve the mind, body, spirit and health of

the family members.

On the other hand, Constitution, Article XV, Section 2 states that marriage as an

inviolable social institution is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the

State. Incidentally, there is nothing in Section 2 that will preclude Congress from

legalizing divorce. However, the provision does not consider liberal divorce such as

those found in progressive countries. 5 This constitutional provision can serve as a

3 CONST. Art. XV, Sec. 1

4 De Leon, H.S. Textbook on the Philippine Constitution: Rex Bookstore(2005) 483p.

5 De Leon, Hector S. Textbook on the Philippine Constitution: Rex Bookstore(2005)

484-485p.
reference in enacting a divorce bill that is not like those of the liberal divorce of

progressive countries but a divorce bill that can be accepted in Philippine context.

Statutes

`According to Family Code, Article 26, Section 2, where a marriage between a Filipino
citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained
abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall
likewise have capacity to remarry under Philippine law (n) (As amended by Executive
Order Number 227, July 17, 1987).6 This is the only recognized valid divorce in the
Philippines. In mixed marriages involving a Filipino and a foreigner, Article 26 of the
Family Code allows the former to contract a subsequent marriage in case the divorce is
validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry. But it is
well-settled in our jurisdiction that our courts cannot take judicial notice of foreign laws.
Like any other facts, they must be alleged and proved before a foreign judgment is
given presumptive evidentiary value, the document must first be presented and
admitted in evidence. A divorce obtained abroad is proven by the divorce decree
itself. Indeed the best evidence of a judgment is the judgment itself. The decree
purports to be a written act or record of an act of an official body or tribunal of a foreign
country (Garcia-Recio vs Recio, G.R. No. 138322, October 2, 2001).7 In Corpuz vs. Sto.
Tomas and Sol Gen, G.R. No. 186571, August 11, 2010, the Supreme Court noted that
only the Filipino spouse can invoke the second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family
Code; the alien spouse can claim no right under this provision, whose status and legal
capacity are generally governed by his national law. However it also states that, the
unavailability of the second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family Code to aliens does
not necessarily strip him/ of legal interest to petition the Regional Trial Court for the
recognition of his foreign divorce decree when he/she wanted to marry another Filipino
spouse after his/her successful divorce decree to another Filipino spouse.8
On the other hand, Family Code, Article 55, states that a, petition for legal
separation may be filed on any of the following grounds: (1) Repeated physical violence
or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of
the petitioner; (2) Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change
religious or political affiliation; (3) Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the
petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or
connivance in such corruption or inducement; (4) Final judgment sentencing the
6 Family Code, Article 26, Section 2

7 Garcia-Recio vs Recio, G.R. No. 138322, October 2, 2001

8 Corpuz vs. Sto. Tomas and Sol Gen, G.R. No. 186571, August 11, 2010
respondent to imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned; (5) Drug
addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent; (6) Lesbianism or homosexuality of
the respondent; (7) Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage,
whether in the Philippines or abroad; (8) Sexual infidelity or perversion; (9) Attempt by
the respondent against the life of the petitioner; or (10) Abandonment of petitioner by
respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year. 9 Also known as relative
divorce which involves nothing more than bed-and board separation and does not
affect the marital status of the couple.10
Divorce and Psychology

The 1987 Constitution

The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill

health consciousness among them (CONST. Art. II, Sec. 15). A special provision on the

peoples right to health which has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court which

need not even be written in the Constitution for they are assumed to exist from the
11
inception of humankind (Cruz, 2011). This constitutional provision promotes the right

of health of the people, as such the effect of the divorce bill in the terms of the

psychological being of the family shall be considered.

Margulies and Luchow (1992) explores why mental health professions criticized

the current adversary legal system as being poorly designed in meeting the

psychological needs of families. They contend that successful adjustment to divorce by

couples and their children requires the completion of critical psychological and practical

tasks early in the divorce. Furthermore, they believed that what interferes with the

9 Family Code, Title II, Article 55

10 Sta. Maria, Milencio S., Jr. Persons and Family Relations (2010):Rex Bookstore
(2010) 353p

11 Cruz, Isagani A. Philippine Political Law by Justice Isagani A. Cuz and Carlo L.
Cruz..Q.C. UP Law Center (2014).127p.
completion of the psychological tasks and retard adaptation were the norms and values

of the legal system and the behaviors and perceptions of the lawyers. They viewed

meditation as an appropriate model for completing the completion of successful

divorce.12

Divorce and Religion

The 1987 Constitution

13
The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable (CONST. Art. I, Sec. 6).

The principle simply means that the church is not to interfere in purely political matters

or temporal aspects of man's life and the State, in purely matters of religion and morals.

which are the exclusive concerns of the other (Cruz, 2016). 14 This constitutional

provisions creates a boundary between the two institutions but it does not prohibit the

Church from promoting or not the divorce bill if it finds it pro/against the teachings of the

religion. Moreover, Constitution, Article III, Section 5 states that, No law shall be made

respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free

exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or

preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise

of civil or political rights.15 A state may not compel a religious belief nor deny any

person any right or privilege because of his beliefs or lack of them but conduct should

12 S. Margulies and A. Luchow, Journal of Psychiatry and Law Vol. 20, Issue 4 (Winter 1992), Litigation, mediation and the psychology of divorce,
pp. 483-504, Available at www.heinonline.org (last visited November 23, 2016)

13 CONST. Art. I, Sec. 6

14 Cruz, Isagani A. Philippine Political Law by Justice Isagani A. Cuz and Carlo L.
Cruz..Q.C. UP Law Center (2014) 116p.

15 CONST. Art. III, Sec. 5

remains subject to regulation and even prohibition for the protection of society.16 As

such, , the promotion or not of the divorce bill of church leaders is not the concern of the

Government as long as long as it still remains subject to regulation and prohibition for

the protection of society.

Summary

16 De Leon, Hector S. Textbook on the Philippine Constitution: Rex Bookstore(2005)

92p.
 Conceptual Framework

Input
Data gathered from interview to the participants (persons with experience in divorce and subject matter expe
Data gathered from review of literature

Processes
Note the relationship of divorce in terms of law, psychology and religion
Note the advantage and disadvantage of divorce
Analyze and interpret data

Output
Identify, explained and relate divorce in terms of law, psychology and religion
Conclusion on whether the enacting of the divorce law is more advantageous to the Philip

Figure 1.0 Conceptual Paradigm

The conceptual paradigm illustrates how data was gathered, processed and analyze to

identify, explained and relate divorce in terms of law, psychology and religion. Also, the

paradigm shows one of the main focus of the study which is to know the advantages and

disadvantages of the divorce decree in our community.

III. Methodology

Research Design

The study will employ interdisciplinary research method to explain, analyze and

compare the possible effects of the legalization of divorce in the Philippines in terms of

law, psychology and religion. Furthermore, the possible advantage and disadvantage of

this divorce decree will also be explained.

Participants and Sampling Design of the Study

The participants of the study will be persons who have experience divorce and

persons who are subject matter experts in the field of law, psychology and religion.

The researcher used purposive sampling method in order to determine the

participants. The participants were chosen based on a predetermined criteria set by the

researcher. Ashley(2016) defined purposive sampling as a non-probability sample that

is selected based on the characteristics of a population and the objective of the study.17

To control the heterogeneity of the participants, the researcher set the following

guidelines in choosing the participants through purposive sampling:

1. For the subject matter experts, one-third of the participants must belong as

subject matter in the field of law, psychology and religion.

2. For persons who have experience divorce, they must be diverse to the different

religious belief in the Philippines.

Research Instrument

17 Crossman, A. (2016). Understanding Purposive Sampling: An Overview of the

Method and Its Application. Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/Types-of-
Samples/a/Purposive-Sample.htm
 In depth-interview to the participants and literature review will be used as

research instrument in the study. In-depth interview is a method of qualitative

research in which the researcher asks open-ended questions orally and records the

respondents answers, sometimes by hand, but more commonly with a digital audio

recording device.18 This research instrument will be useful for collecting data that

reveals the values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences of the participants regarding

divorce. On the other hand, literature review is a review that qualitatively summarizes

evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret

studies.19 From these two research instruments, the data from the research will be

gathered.

Data Collection Procedure

The steps mentioned below were the guidelines of the researchers in order to make

the study organized and ethical.

1. The researcher will give permission letter to conduct research and informed

consent to the participants of the study. The permission letter contained the

studys title, rationale, purpose and significance. Additionally, informed consent

was provided to the participants to make them knowledgeable about the nature

and purpose of the study and to let them know that the procedure was not
18 Crossman, A. (2016). How to Conduct an In-depth Interview: A brief instruction to
the research method. Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/Research-
Methods/a/Interviews.htm

19 Kysh, L. (2013). Whats In a Name?: The Difference Between a Systematic Review

and a Literature Review and Why it matters?(fig share). Retrieved from
https://figshare.com/articles/Difference_between_a_systematic_review_and_a_literat
ure_review/766364
 mandatory, giving them the freedom to decline any participation and to decide to

withdraw if in any sense they felt that they did not want to cooperate.
2. Data gathered from in-depth interview from the participants and systematic

review of literature will be analyzed, interpreted to give conclusions and

recommendations.
3. The researcher will ran the content of the study through the use of anti-plagiarism

software in order to ensure the study was free from plagiarism.

4. Upon the request of the participants, a session for debriefing and/or a copy of the

study shall be given upon the completion of the study. The debriefing will deal on

the results and queries of the participants.

Data Analysis Procedure

In the analysis of data, the researcher used Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) to

examine and interpret the meaningful and symbolic content of collected data. From the

analyze data from QDA, the data is interpreted further in order to explain and compare

divorce and its effect in terms of law, psychology and Religion. Furthermore, the QDA

data will be used to know the possible advantages and disadvantages of enacting a

divorce decree in the Philippines.

Legal Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix A
Letter for Data Gathering

Date

Name
Position
Establishment
Dear Sir/Madame:
Greetings!
The undersigned is an undergraduates of the degree of Juris Doctor at New Era University. As
part of this degree, I am currently doing a thesis entitled, Cross Sectional Analysis on the
Legalization of Divorced in the Philippines. The purpose of the thesis is to explained, identify
and relate divorce in terms of law, psychology and religion. Furthermore, it also aims to know
the advantage and disadvantage of a divorce law in the Philippines.

In line with this, may I request you to give at least 15-30 minutes of your time to answer
interview questions regarding the topic. Rest assured that any information gathered will remain
strictly confidential. If you wish to discontinue your participation in the study, you are free to do
so anytime.

Questions and concerns shall be entertained by the researcher before, during and after the
session. You can also contact the researcher via SMS (09062879215) or e-mail
(tmvilla@neu.edu.ph).
We are hoping for you participation. Thank you.

Respectfully yours, Noted by:

Talver M. Villa Atty. Ida Marie E. Canton

Researcher Thesis Adviser
 New Era University
College of Law

Appendix B
Informed Consent

INFORMED CONSENT
This is to certify that the undersigned is willing to participate as a respondent for the
study entitled Cross Sectional Analysis on the Legalization of Divorced in the Philippines.
Rest assured that any information gathered will remain strictly confidential and there will
be no harm inflicted with the participants. With respect to the undersigneds wish of anonymity,
no real names will be used to disclose the identity of the participants for the study. Shall he/she
wish to discontinue his/her participation in the study; he/she is free to withdraw anytime.
Questions and concerns shall be entertained by the researcher before, during and after the
session. You can also contact the researcher via SMS (09062879215) or e-mail
(tmvilla@neu.edu.ph).

This consent will serve as evidence of agreement between the researchers and the
participant. Signing this consent would mean that there is full understanding and agreement of
terms between the researcher and the participant.

____________________________________
Signature over printed name of participant

____________________________________
Signature over printed name of researcher