“I will strongly oppose the passage of the divorce bill just like my strong opposition to the RH Bill should it be deliberated during plenary at the House of Representatives” . This was the categorical statement issued by 2 nd District Congressman Erico B. Aumentado during his regular radio program ERICO Development last Friday evening. Aumentado rationalized that marriage is not merely a contract of supposedly mature persons before men. But more importantly it is bound before God and is beyond the reach of mortals. Even right now we read about our increasing juvenile delinquency despite marital union. This is going to worsen if there is divorce because children become the unwitting victims of this potentially tragic dissolution of marriage, Aumentado said.

The 2nd District solon also clarified that even the judiciary allows mediation and exhaustion of all remedies to settle the disagreements of court litigants before hearing the case. The proposed Divorce Bill opens the gates for cases even for whimsical but deliberately bloated disagreements so it qualifies for the conditions outlined under the proposed bill. Married couples would no longer hold themselves responsible in resolving their differences since there is an easy way out – divorce! Going biblical, Aumentado quotes “What God has put together , let no man put asunder” to underscore the values couples should have in their marriage. He stressed that economic pressures should not be enough to put aside God’s presence in marriage.

Even the reasons outlined under the proposed bill to qualify for divorce does not guarantee that if a person remarries, the reason for the dissolution of the previous relationship will not happen because divorce did not answer the root cause for the reasons behind the problem Aumentado emphasized. The proposed bill is still in the committee level and up for public hearing before it is presented at plenary.