Church-decreed annulment hurdles House committee

December 15, 2017

The House committee on population and family relations chaired by Rep. Sol Aragones of  Laguna has approved a substitute bill which seeks to recognize the civil effects of church-decreed annulment, the Lower House said in a press statement on Friday.

The unnumbered bill substituted House Bill 1629 authored by Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu titled “Legalizing Church Annulment Or Dissolution Of Certain Marriages” and HB 3705 by Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez of  Leyte titled “Recognizing The Civil Effects Of Church Declaration Of Nullity, Annulment, And Dissolution Of Marriages.” Aragones is one of the authors of the substitute bill.

The bill, also known as the “Church Decreed Annulment,” provides that when a marriage, duly and legally solemnized by a priest, minister, imam, rabbi or presiding elder of any church or religious sect in the Philippines is annulled or dissolved in a final judgment or decree in accordance with the canons or precepts of the church or religious sect, the annulment or dissolution shall have the same effect as a decree of annulment or dissolution issued by a competent court.

It adds that the final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution by the proper church or religious sect shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry within 30 days from issuance of said final judgment or decree of annulment or dissolution.

Either of the former spouses may marry again after complying with the requirements of the preceding paragraph and Article 52 of Executive Order No. 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines, otherwise, the subsequent marriage shall be null and void.

In securing a marriage license, the spouse involved must present a certified true copy of the final judgment or decree of declaration of nullity, annulment or dissolution of marriage registered with the appropriate civil registry.

During the hearing, Fr. Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that church annulment is no longer a strictly judicial process but can be an administrative decree as contained in a decree that Pope Francis signed three years ago.

Garcia said although marriage is an institution that the state is interested in, it is also a religious act.

“For the predominant Catholics of our country, it is a sacrament and marriage is not considered valid insofar as Catholics are concerned unless celebrated in accordance with the solemnities of the church. Marriage, therefore, is an element in the exercise of religious freedom,” Garcia explained.

“So logically, if the marriage, insofar as the contracting parties are concerned, is validated by the laws of the Church, then it necessarily follows that by the same laws, such marriage can also be invalidated or annulled,” she said.

In this connection, since the adoption of the New Civil Code, the state recognizes Muslim divorces or dissolutions of marriages in accordance with Muslim law, said Garcia.

“Under the principle of equality before the law, if Muslim divorces are legalized, there could be no serious objections to recognizing the annulment of a marriage by a church or by any other established and duly recognized religious denomination,” Garcia said.

Romualdez said the Family Code of the Philippines recognizes as valid a marriage solemnized under the laws of the Church.

“If marriages so solemnized are recognized by the State, it is only proper that the very church that solemnized the marriage should also have the power to rule that attendant infirmity that rendered a marriage null, and its effects binding on the State. This is also same to all other established churches and religions,” said Romualdez. DMS