VOTING for divorce bill will be up to each senator’s conscience.

Thus said Senate President Francis Chiz Escudero as he explained that the vote for the divorce bill will be by each individual senator based on their own beliefs and conscience adding that he will not push for nor hinder the passing of the divorce bill.

Escudero in a press conference said that the issue of divorce will not be a majority or minority issue.

The divorce bill gained majority support in the House of Representatives.

Based on survey, majority of the Filipinos expressed their staunch support for the passage of the bill.

It is only in the Philippines that divorce is prohibited while all neighboring countries in Asia allow the same.

When asked to explain his personal position, Escudero said the present annulment law, as far as he is concerned is already sufficient.

“Wala akong balak diinan dito sa Senado ang divorce. Nais kong palawakin at gawin na affordable sa sinuman nagnanais nito ang kasalukuyan annulment. Gawin itong menos away, menos gulo, at menos gastos. Sapagkat malawak naman ang spectrum ng divorce,” Escudero explained.

According to Escudero, this is one of the reasons why some people are pushing for divorce because it is extremely expensive and tedious.

The reaction of Escudero came after their House counterpart approved House Bill No. 9349 which seeks to legalize divorce and allow the dissolution of marriages to liberate couples who are experiencing problems in their marriages and whose relationship is no longer reparrable.

Senator Risa Hontiveros who strongly support divorce in the Philippine renewed her call to pass her controversial divorce bill or the Dissolution of Marriage act, which she authored, citing the fact that it is the only remedy for individuals trapped in abusive, toxic and irreparable marriages.

The senator who chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, stressed that women who are victim-survivors of domestic abuse need this legal recourse.

She also pointed how some women have almost been killed by their own husband but cannot leave their marriages because of the prohibitive costs of filing for an annulment which according to the lady senator must be resolved once and for all.

Hontiveros further explained the need to understand the situation of some women who are trapped in an abusive relationship and irreparable marriages, insisting that the State must not only provide relief to both spouses, but also protect their children from the pain, anxiety and trauma of witnessing regular marital clashes.

Hontiveros also revealed that many studies were conducted which says that many married women experienced spousal violence, whether physical, sexual or emotional and these women who experienced this kind of trauma were really the ones pushing strongly for the passage of Divorce in the Philippines to enable them to start a new beginning and a new life.