Dear Atty. Kathy,

G, my girlfriend, works in a religious institution, RI. We are expecting our first baby in eight months. When G told her boss, B, about this, B told G that she has to suspend her effective immediately, until she is legally married to me. B also told G that she cannot continue working in RI in the meantime because having a child outside marriage is classified as an immoral act in RI’s rules. G tried to appeal, saying we are both single and are not in an illicit affair. But RI was firm in its decision to suspend G. Is this even legal?

Kellen

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Dear Kellen,

In the case of Bohol Wisdom School, et al. vs. Miraflor Mabao (G.R. No. 252124, 23 July 2024), the Supreme Court said that in the law, the standard of morality is public and secular, not religious. Public and secular morality refers to conduct proscribed because they are detrimental to conditions upon which depend the existence and progress of human society. Otherwise, if government relies upon religious beliefs in formulating public policies and morals, the resulting policies and morals would require conformity to what some might regard as religious program or agenda.

Based solely on your narration, G was suspended without a fixed period, for being pregnant while unmarried, even if the both of you are single and not engaged in an illicit affair.

As also ruled by the Supreme Court, premarital sexual relations resulting in pregnancy out of wedlock cannot be considered disgraceful or immoral when viewed against the prevailing norms of conduct; there is no law which penalizes an unmarried mother by reason of her sexual conduct or proscribes the consensual sexual activity between two unmarried persons; and neither does such situation contravene any fundamental state policy enshrined in the Constitution.

While G is an employee of a religious institution, getting pregnant without marriage cannot be considered as immoral under the law, since such conduct is not prohibited under any law nor is it contrary to conduct generally accepted by society as respectable or moral.

Thus, in accordance with Supreme Court rulings, there is nothing immoral in G’s conduct, which makes her suspension illegal and without basis.

Atty. Kathy Larios