Senator Loren Legarda recently filed a bill seeking to add one more ground for annulment—separation of the couple for at least five years.
In her explanatory note of Senate Bill 2225 filed on May 14, Legarda said the measure would help expedite the tedious process of annulment as well as lower the backlog of cases besetting the lower courts.
“Parties seeking annulment require legal counsel for assistance in filing petitions and substantiating claims. Hence, annulment is widely considered a lengthy, tedious, and financially exhaustive procedure,” Legarda said.
“This bill addresses such concerns by providing an additional ground for annulment…This amendment likewise caters to those who cannot afford legal services by making litigation as simple and expedient as possible,” Legarda said.
The bill seeks to amend Chapter 3 of Executive Order No. 209 otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines.
Currently Chapter 3 of the Family Code identifies six valid grounds for annulment:
- Lack of parental consent
- Insanity
- Fraud
- Force, intimidation, or undue influence
- Impotence
- Sexually transmissible diseases
for at least five years” provided that the parties “shall both be required to present affidavits or certifications from parents, children of legal age, and other relatives attesting to the fact
of the separation period without prejudice to whatever documents the court may further require.”
“The separation period is crucial as the ultimate expression of the couple’s desire for an annulment,” the bill states.
The proposed measure also states that if either or both parties are indigent or cannot afford the services of lawyers, “the court shall dispense with the need for lawyers and keep the processes as simple and as expediently as possible to avoid tedious and expensive litigation proceedings.”
“In cases where both parties mutually seek the annulment on this ground, the court shall likewise find ways to expedite the proceedings to avoid protracted and expensive trials,” SB 2225 states.
Legarda pointed out that while annulment is considered as a time-consuming and expensive process, many Filipino couples still avail this legal remedy “since it severs a union while allowing remarriage.”
“These figures present an opportunity to dispense with the backlog of cases and culture of delay besieging lower courts,” Legarda, whose marriage with former Batangas Governor Jose Antonio Leviste was annulled in 2005, said.
