Bishop frowns on ‘pro-poor’ annulment

“I do not see the rhyme or reason for cheaper annulment process and [to make it] quicker because of the poor. To me it does not hold water." So declared retired archbishop and Canon Law expert Oscar Cruz, who chairs the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, in an article posted on the CBCP website. Cruz decried a bill filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares that seeks to make annulment “more accessible to the poor" by simplifying its proceedings. Cruz claimed the proposed measure can encourage infidelity as it offers an easy way out of marriage. “For example, if I don’t like my wife anymore, I could create a situation just to get an annulment like adultery," Cruz said. Cruz also claimed that the bill would destroy the sacredness of matrimony. “The sanctity of marriage would become more dilute[d]," he said. The bill seeks to recognize spousal violence, infidelity, and abandonment as presumptions of “psychological incapacity"— a ground for voiding marriages under Article 36 of the Family Code. Colmenares said the bill, if passed into law, would make court proceedings “less costly" since there would no longer be a need to hire psychiatrists, psychologists and lawyers to declare an unfortunate marriage as being void from the start. But Cruz fears the possibility of more broken families if the proposal will be approved, leading to more children likely losing parental care. He also criticized the bill’s proponent for pushing annulment in the guise of helping the poor, where many of them do not enter into marriage but have “live-in" relationships, to secure “annulment decision." “Even if they are poor, most of them just live together, most of them just separate, and most of them just unite with other partners so they are not annulment seekers," the prelate said. Cruz believes that the bill would benefit mostly those “in middle class, upper middle class who seek annulment as a matter of principle." He added: “Honestly, I think there would be objections to this. I am certain some legislators whose legal mind and value system remain intact (would oppose) because the poor are the ones who do not need this." Cruz also pointed out that his “biggest problem" with the bill was that it did not say how many times a person can avail of annulment or if those whose marriages [are] annulled would be allowed to remarry again. — With Marnie Tonson/VS, GMANews.TV