A Catholic lay ecclesial movement on Saturday said divorce “weaken” the marriage bond.

In a manifesto, the Couples for Christ (CFC) laid down their reasons for opposing the proposed Divorce Law in the country.

“If divorce is not an option, people will choose their life partner more carefully. Knowing that marriage is a lifetime commitment will help the couple exert their best efforts not only to prepare for, but to sustain and nurture the marriage,” the manifesto read.

“A husband and wife living together in love can provide the best guidance, inspiration and emotional support to their children,” it further read.

The CFC stressed that the Divorce Law would hit children who are “too young, too vulnerable, or too weak.”

“Children of one-parent families are the silent and often unintended victims of the separation of their parents. Their scars can be emotional, psychological, financial, or physical,” the CFC said.

A strong family, it added “is the foundation of a healthy society.”

“No marriage is perfect. However, marriages formed in love and mutual understanding can be happy, enduring and fulfilling,” the CFC said.

“We strongly urge our country's leaders NOT to weaken the marriage bond but instead to work more aggressively to strengthen the family,” it added.

The CFC suggested that “supporting and working” for the more vigorous implementation of the Philippine Family Code would be “a more viable option by which to elevate our people into a society of law-abiding, and emotionally stable citizens.”

The House of Representatives on 22 May approved on the third and final reading a bill that will legalize divorce in the Philippines.

With a vote of 126-109 and 20 abstentions, the chamber passed the bill seeking to institute absolute divorce as an alternative means of dissolving an irreparably broken or dysfunctional marriage in the country.

On 12 June, the Divorce Bill was transmitted to the Senate.

The bill stipulates the grounds for absolute divorce, which include psychological incapacity, irreconcilable differences, domestic, or marital abuse, when one of the spouses undergoes a sex reassignment surgery or transitions from one sex to another, and separation of the spouses for at least five years.

This is the second time that a measure seeking to legalize absolute divorce in the Philippines was approved in the House of Representatives.

The first time was in 2018 during the 17th Congress, after which it eventually died upon reaching the Senate.

With the House's approval of the divorce bill, it will be sent to the Senate for deliberation.

The Philippines is the only country in the world, apart from the Vatican, that has not legalized divorce.