Sa pamamagitan ng viva voce voting ay pasado na sa ikalawang pagbasa ang House Bill 9349 o ang Absolute Divorce Bill.
Para sa principal author ng panukala na si Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman, hindi nilalayon ng Divorce Bill na sirain ang pagsasama ng mag-asawa, bagkus ito ay para isalba ang mag-asawa mula sa sira nang pagsasama.
Isa sa mahalagang probisyon ng panukala ay ang pagtiyak na sasailalim sa judicial process ang divorce petition upang tukuyin kung may sapat na batayan para sa diborsyo.
Kabilang naman sa grounds o batayan para sa diborsyo ang grounds para sa legal separation salig sa Article 55 ng Family Code of the Philippines gaya ng:
- Physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner;
- Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious or political affiliation;
- Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution;
- Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than 6 years;
- Drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, or chronic gambling;
- Homosexuality of the respondent;
- Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage;
- Marital infidelity or perversion or having a child with another person other than one’s spouse during the marriage;
- Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner; and
- Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year.
Kasama rin ang grounds para sa Annulment of Marriage na nakasaad sa Article 45 ng Family Code sa mga maaaring batayan para sa divorce gayundin ay kung limang taon nang hiwalay ang mag-asawa; psychological incapacity salig sa Article 36 ng Family Code; irreconcilable differences; at domestic o marital abuse salig sa Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
