Rep Tutor announces district key events
Third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor (left, standing) meets the 11-year-old beneficiary (right) of a wheelchair from Anda town. Tutor gave the child a wheelchair as the solon is known to be donating wheelchairs to some beneficiaries in her district. The meeting was done on July 9, 2021 at barangay Sta. Cruz, Anda. Contributed photo
Cong. Kristine Alexie Besas Tutor
Solon files bill changing the marriage annulment process
Third District Rep. Kristine Alexie Besas Tutor filed a bill seeking to overhaul the way government and religious authorities handle annulment and marriage dissolution cases, a press release from the solon says.
House Bill 9774 seeks to, among others, transfer to the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) the role of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in family law cases, specifically marriage annulment
The proposed Family Law Reform Act seeks for the state to immediately recognize the decision of religious authorities on the matter of annulment or dissolution of marriage cases, Tutor said.
“No more lengthy court or administrative processes after the religious have rendered their decision to annul or dissolve a marriage,” she added.
Tutor quipped that once the bill becomes a law, the state has 15 days to enter information about the dissolution or annulment of marriage into the records of the civil registrar and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The Catholic bishops of Talibon and Tagbilaran have commented on the bill, acknowledging the “painful reality of invalid marriages” and “advantages of the recognition of church annulment”.
Talibon Bishop Patrick Daniel Parcon and Bishop Alberto Uy of the Tagbilaran Diocese cited the three defects of invalid marriage.
The defects of invalid marriages are: 1. defects in canonical form; 2. defects of capacity; and 3. defect of consent.
Bishops Parcon and Uy said that the Tutor bill has three main advantages in its favor which are mercy for victims of invalid marriages from the beginning; advantage to poor couples who want to dissolve or annul their marriage and avoidance of unnecessary procedural duplication.
However, the bishops think that the bill may find a huge stumbling block which is the principle of the separation of church and state.
Tutor said HB 9774 provides that instead of the “Manila-based red tape of going through the OSG, this bill mandates the Public Attorney’s Office, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to intervene and provide solutions.”
“All of the cases now with the OSG are transferred to the DSWD which the bill authorizes to create a Family Relations Welfare Office (FWRO), which will serve as staff support to the PAO. By involving the DSWD through the FRWO, the social services nature of Family Law cases is improved. The character of the cases is no longer tedious and contentious litigation but social welfare,” Tutor pointed out.
The bill sets a timeline of up to 360 working days for the hearing and resolution of annulment and other Family Law cases, 180 days at the Family Court and 180 days on appeal.
HB 9774 creates a Special Branch for Family Law within the PAO will handle appeals of Family Court cases, including annulment and dissolution of marriage cases.
“To address the lack of manpower, this bill authorizes a memorandum of agreement between the PAO and IBP so that the IBP can provide or assign private lawyers to work pro bono for the PAO on [these] cases,” Tutor said.
The bill also mandates public notices and immediate notification of all third parties to annulment, legal separation, and other cases affecting the civil registry records.
“For example, formally notified of annulment and dissolution of marriage decisions are the solemnizing officer, the barangay where the parties reside, the courts, quasi-judicial bodies, and other government offices where there are related pending cases, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, and the schools of children of the parties,” Tutor explained.
“These are all third parties concerned because of related financial issues, guardianship and custody matters, and public record purposes,” she added.
HB 9774 also mandates computerization of the civil registries at the local and national levels.
“This bill also sets the goal of having physical access to civil registry services at every barangay. The initial goal is that of having civil registry field units in every congressional district,” Tutor said.