Manila, Philippines – Veronica Pipero remembers the despair she felt while being interrogated by police inside a locked room at the US Embassy in Manila.
Investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) wanted to know why he used forged marriage annulment documents to apply for a US visa.
With tears streaming down his face, the Manila acupuncturist was told: “This must be a shame, right?”
Drink to a woman who claims to be a judicial officer to secure an annulment after the Covid-19 pandemic besieged her efforts to get through the usual judicial process.
Since its finances paid the United States nearly 500,000 Philippine pesos (US$8,862) in legal and administrative taxes, Pepero was attracted by the promise of a quick repeal of the 210,000 Philippine pesos (US$3,722) tax.
“He said there would be no cancellation in three to six months,” Pipero, 50, told Al Jazeera.
Bebero's cancellation never happened. Since she was a police officer, she was deceived.
“There is something I want or need, and that is a good, peaceful marriage. If someone is willing to give something, I want to be able to return the favor,” said Pipero, whose life collapsed under the pressure of losing so much money.
The enormous efforts that Pipero was willing to make to have his marriage annulled reflect the law of the Philippines as the only jurisdiction in the world, with the exception of the Vatican, that neither reconvenes nor divorces.
Isso deixa os casais Filipinos who want to sever ties without other option without annulment – a tiring process for Filipinos of modest means, in particular.
In the Catholic Philippines, revocations typically take about two years, cost about half a million pesos, and are usually only granted in extreme cases of abuse or incompatibility.
With legislative measures underway, reliance on repeals may finally be ready to change.
In June, an absolute divorce bill was submitted to the Senate after the House of Representatives approved it in May.
Pipero and other advocates of the project see the perspective of legal divorce as a saving grace, especially for couples who cannot afford the costs of dissolving a marriage.
Brosas told Al Jazeera that one of the main supporters of the divorce bill is Congresswoman Arlene Brosas, who claims that the reform will provide a solution to “the files that are in the sanctuary and she has no other solution.”
“It's for women who don't have to care and are financially trapped in abusive spaces.
Conservative senators expressed their opposition to the bill, and instead proposed amendments to the repeal law.
“Instead of divorce, why don't we study how to make the dissolution of marriage more complicated and the process less arduous?” Senator Jinggoy Estrada issued a statement at the beginning of this year.
The Catholic Church, which has great influence in a country where nearly 80% of the population is religious, was among the most vocal opponents of the proposed law.
Recently, Father Jerome Sicilano, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, asked lawmakers why they “insist on no divorce” when they can change existing laws.
Sicilano blamed “unscrupulous advocates” for charging exorbitant annulment fees, turning the marriage annulment process “anti-poor.”
To avoid exorbitant legal fees, when reading a divorce, he suggested a maximum cost of 50,000 pesos ($886), which is much less than the typical cost of annulment of marriage.
Lawyer Minnie Lopez, advisor to the national Gabriela Women's Group, said dissolution of marriage is inherently costly, making it more difficult to complete two marriages.
“There is no court, obviously most of the clients have been supplied,” Lopez told Al Jazeera.
Efforts to legalize divorce are not just about accessibility, Lopez said.
“Divorce expands the reasons a marriage might end, and speeds up the process. Think about the economic impotence and the urgency,” Lopez said.
Lopez admits that the provisions of the proposed legislation regarding divorce are part of an “ideal scenario” and that legal projects often undergo extensive reviews before becoming legal.
If the divorce is approved in its current form, immediate judicial decisions will be made and applicants will be allowed to represent themselves in cases where a lawyer is not necessary, such as in cases of bigamy or where the marriage has been separated for at least five years. Years.
The proposal lists 13 grounds for divorce, including irreconcilable differences, compared to other permissible grounds for annulment.
Coup plotters are attacking people like Pipero, who are desperate to leave their marriage, warns Sissy Leuenberger Goico of Divorce for the Philippines Now-International.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the matter.
Very few women seem to come forward against the coup plotters because they “feel ashamed,” Leuenberger-Goico said.
“Every time they have to agree to transfer the money into a mandate,” Leuenberger Goico told Al Jazeera.
According to the latest census by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), only 1.9% of Filipinos obtain an annulment, separation or divorce – the latter including those who marry abroad.
June census data also shows that only 51 percent of women participate in the labor force, compared to 75 percent of men, meaning that a Filipino woman's goal depends on marital or family income.
Sarah Abella, who runs a violence against women allegation office in Marikina City, says she receives links from 10 wives facing difficulties every day.
Abella said that for them, any form of separation represents an extremely heavy financial burden that they cannot bear.
“The wife cannot afford the luxury of going to bed, so she has to take care of everything,” Abella told Al Jazeera.
Some observers believe that legalizing divorce could bring broader benefits to the economy as a whole.
Ella Oplas, a gender and economics specialist at De La Salle University, believes allowing divorce could stimulate the country's growth.
Assuming that the pent-up divorce rate is high, Oblas says that if you marry and separate, you will need to look for new accommodations, creating “a huge action for imóveis daughters.”
Allowing divorce could also lead to “an increase in household consumption,” Oblas said, because an increase in the number of family members would cause “two sets of purchases and groceries.”
However, once many women continue to be financially dependent on their husbands, Oplas said the country should expect transitional challenges.
PSA recorded a poverty rate among women of 18.4 percent in 2021, reaching 16.6 percent in 2018.
The Statistics Authority concluded that women are classified as the third most economically vulnerable segment of society, after rural residents and children.
Oblas says while she supports legalizing divorce, the government also needs to do more to support women seeking financial independence.
For Pipero, the idea of saving money for more, and requesting that the acupuncturist’s salary be eliminated, seems “impossible.”
She hopes lawmakers will continue to stand up to the proposed change in the law to give women like her a fresh start.
“Every antigen test goes to my accounts and my children. I have no plans and I don't really know where my life is going. But I'm continuing,” said Pipero.
