The lay arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) renewed its opposition to divorce, saying that it could lead to a surge in broken families and a decline in moral values.
The Council of the Laity of the Philippines or Laiko warned that divorce in other countries has hastened the crumbling of family values.
“All we need to do is look at the world and see what damage divorce has done, especially how the children suffer: multiple marriages, broken families, and morally lacking society,” the Laiko said.
“We do not want that to happen to the Philippines,” it stressed.
The organization also said that easy access to divorce will weaken the family as an institution.
In opposing divorce, it emphasized that the current remedies for struggling marriages are “enough”.
“We stand for solid marriages. We stand for strong families. We stand for a society with good values,” they added.
The House of Representatives on May 22 approved on final reading the bill on absolute divorce. However, the proposed measure remains pending in the Senate.
The CBCP earlier reiterated its opposition to the legalization of divorce in the country.
Bishop Pablo David, CBCP president, explained that this is because divorce is “not just as an agreement between two spouses, but as a covenant between the couple and God”.
