For most residents of the Philippines, divorce remains prohibited, although a special law allows members of the country's Muslim minority to end their marriage. However, this does not apply to the majority of Christians, who in this regard are dependent on the Catholic Church and the rules of the Vatican - the only other country in the world that still prohibits divorce.
In May of this year, however, the Philippine House of Representatives was on the verge of passing a bill that would expand existing options, such as annulment of marriage or legal separation. If passed, the law would allow couples to file for divorce if they have lived apart for at least five years and have no chance of getting back together, or if they have been legally separated for more than two years. It also includes the grounds of abandonment and adultery, which are already recognized in cases of annulment of marriage and legal separation.
They predict a "wave of divorces"
At the same time, the bill does not provide for no-fault divorce (by mutual consent) and - except in cases where one of the spouses or a child is in danger - requires a 60-day cooling-off period to give couples one last chance to reconcile .
"This law will provide a new opportunity to many Filipinos who have been living separately for years, but have no legal recognition of their status," activist Ai Alfafara from the Divorce Pilipinas coalition told DV.
The next step must now be taken by the Senate, the upper house of parliament, which has been sitting on the bill since June. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines urged caution, warning of the danger of a "divorce wave".
Challenges for Filipinos seeking divorce
Currently, Filipinos who want to end their marriage have limited options. A legal separation allows spouses to live apart but does not end the marriage, and annulment is often prohibitively expensive and requires proof that the marriage was void from the beginning. These opportunities remain out of reach for many Filipinos, leaving them trapped in dysfunctional or even dangerous relationships.
Among the Christian majority, which makes up almost 88% of the country's population, there is also social pressure in favor of marriage. At the same time, however, support for divorce appears to be growing. Survey from March this year found that 50% of Filipino adults support legalizing divorce, while 31% oppose it.
According to another survey conducted by media close to the church, only 34% of respondents support divorce if the reason is "irreconcilable differences", but more than half approve of divorce in cases of domestic violence.
Foreign divorce is now valid in the Philippines
Defenders of the bill have largely focused on the fact that it gives women the ability to legally end an abusive partner. Observers believe that the impetus to legalize divorce was given by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Philippines to recognize foreign divorce judgments – in cases where a Filipino citizen is married to a foreigner who obtained a divorce abroad.
"The court ruled that the type of divorce - administrative or judicial - does not matter. As long as the divorce is valid under the foreign spouse's national law, he/she will be recognized in the Philippines as his/her Filipino partner," the judges ruled.
Will the Senate act now?
Will the Supreme Court decision affect the Senate? Geoffrey Abalos, a demographer at the Australian National University, expects a weak effect, since only about 1% of registered marriages in the Philippines are mixed (with a foreigner). "The situation of this small segment of Filipinos who obtain a divorce abroad is very different from that of many Filipinos who want to legally end their marriage. So this decision may not have a strong response", Abalos told DV.
According to Ai Alfafara of the Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, the ruling paves the way for divorce more generally. "Lack of the right to divorce violates basic human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," she said.
The bill now depends on the decision of the Senate. A similar measure was defeated in 2018, and the current composition of the Senate includes many conservative Catholic or Christian senators who have publicly opposed the idea of divorce.
There are also lawmakers proposing to soften the wording in the bill so that it can be passed. For example, the influential senator Jinggoy Estrada proposed to improve the annulment process instead of legalizing divorce.
Last month, Senate President Francis Escudero offered a different perspective, suggesting lawmakers remove the word "divorce" from the bill. "In our country there is already a divorce, it's just not called a divorce, but an annulment of marriage," Escudero told reporters at the end of September.
Time is running out
The fate of the divorce bill remains unclear, especially as the May 2025 midterm elections approach, when all 317 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 24 seats in the Senate will be on the ballot.
If the Senate does not pass the bill before then, the newly elected House of Representatives will have to start the legislative process over.
Alfafara, however, remains optimistic. She believes the current bill has gone further than any previous attempt to legalize divorce in the Philippines, and while obstacles remain, growing public support could lead to change in the coming years.