'Quickie' annulments
'Quickie' annulments
Updated 02:13am (Mla time) Nov 25, 2004
By Juan Mercado
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 25, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
WILL a flood of marriage annulment cases swirling into an obscure Cebu town court win for Barili the title of "Reno of the Philippines"?
"If you want to get unhitched pronto, you go there," an editor notes. Barili (population: 57,497) is 61 kilometers west of Cebu City. It "caters to domestic disharmony."
In the second half of 2003, an on-going Supreme Court audit found "nearly 100 cases filed in Barili," Court Administrator Christopher Lock told SunStar reporter Grecar Nilles. In the first quarter of this year, "another 50 were lodged" in Barili's Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60.
Divorce isn't in Philippine law books. The Family Code, however, allows broader grounds for annulment.
"I married beneath me," Lady Astor once snapped. "All women do." Does this explain why in nine months, almost 150 annulment cases swamped, not Cebu City's Family Court, but Barili's. What's special about Branch 60? Is it Judge Ildefonso Suerte?
This 69-year-old magistrate presided over this court -- "used to," that is. The Supreme Court suspended Suerte on complaints ranging from violating Court orders against taking on new cases to foot-dragging on 170 complaints.
But annulment cases sailed through RTC 60 due to Suerte's "extraordinary fervor," the Court found out. Controversial acting Talisay City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro's petition was decided within 67 days from date of filing. The decision was made final 23 days later.
"Quickie" annulments result in the perception that courts are not a cathedral, but a casino. They clone Reno's mass-produced divorces.
"Divorce in one week," a Nevada ad trumpets. "No residency. No travel. $379 deposit refund guaranteed."
Barili hasn't aped that pitch. Neither is there evidence that the going rate for restoring battered bachelorhood was P50,000 ($892 at today's exchange rate). But word gets around.
"Some litigants made it appear they live in Barili, even if they didn't, just so they could file their cases there," SunStar revealed. When checked, their actual residences were elsewhere: Talamban, Osmeña Boulevard, Pardo, Tisa -- all in Cebu City.
Those "one-night-stand annulments" refocus attention on a 1997 unanimous Supreme Court decision directing courts to buttress marriage's indissoluble character. "I married the Duke for better or for worse," the Duchess of Windsor once said. "But not for lunch."
"Both our Constitution and our laws cherish the validity of marriage and unity of family," the ruling written by Associate Justice Artemio Panganiban states. Judges must resolve doubts "in favor of the existence and continuation of the marriage and against its dissolution."
Silver, golden or diamond wedding anniversary couples underscore what remains ideal in this society. "You shall be together when the white wings of death shall scatter your days," Khalil Gibran writes in "The Prophet."
Thus, the Court riveted eight guidelines before judges may accept "psychological incapacity" as nullification ground. The burden of proof is on the complainant's shoulders. By medical and clinical evidence, they must show incapacity existed on the wedding day-and that it was "grave, permanent or incurable," preventing fulfillment of marital duties.
The thrust is to prevent trivializing marriage into a flitting tryst or escape from moods. "Quickie" annulments do that.
"The best part of married life is the fights," Pulitzer Prize novelist Thornton Wilder writes. "The rest is so-so."
Governments have a stake in stable families, fostered by sturdy marriages. History passes through the family. Thus, the Court stipulates that trial courts must order the fiscal or solicitor to appear as counsel for government. "No decision will be handed down unless the Solicitor General issues a certification, which will be quoted in the decision, stating reasons for agreement or opposition."
Assembly-line annulments leave no room for those values. Over the centuries, they've underpinned what Thomas Aquinas defines as "inseparable union of minds... a couple pledged to each other in faithful friendship."
It's about fidelity during good days and the not-so-good days. "One man loved the pilgrim soul in you / And loved the sorrows on your changing face," W.B. Yeats scribbled in his poem "When You Are Old."
At his golden wedding anniversary, Henry Ford credited the success to the "same formula I've always used in making cars: stick to one model."
Tell that to Judge Suerte who retires on Jan. 23. He hopes to do so with benefits intact.
That's a thin hope. "In mabuhi ha hulat-hulat, matai bungtas," the Tausugs say. He who lives on hope will die of hunger.
The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Hilario Davide has disciplined six wayward judges in Cebu, ordering outright dismissal for some.
The final report will pinpoint fraudulent annulments. So, what happens to those who "remarried"? There's been early fallout. Disbarment cases were filed against Suerte, Prosecutor Cezar Tajanlangit and four others for getting RTC 60 to intervene in a pending murder case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo.
On leaving a Bangkok hospital with a pacemaker, an old UN colleague e-mailed a wisecrack: "The doctor says recuperation will speed up if I change my wife. Any suggestions?"
Barili unfortunately is no longer a viable option. So, I e-mailed back: "My wife says life would be smoother if she changed husbands. Do you have any suggestion?"
Updated 02:13am (Mla time) Nov 25, 2004
By Juan Mercado
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 25, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
WILL a flood of marriage annulment cases swirling into an obscure Cebu town court win for Barili the title of "Reno of the Philippines"?
"If you want to get unhitched pronto, you go there," an editor notes. Barili (population: 57,497) is 61 kilometers west of Cebu City. It "caters to domestic disharmony."
In the second half of 2003, an on-going Supreme Court audit found "nearly 100 cases filed in Barili," Court Administrator Christopher Lock told SunStar reporter Grecar Nilles. In the first quarter of this year, "another 50 were lodged" in Barili's Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60.
Divorce isn't in Philippine law books. The Family Code, however, allows broader grounds for annulment.
"I married beneath me," Lady Astor once snapped. "All women do." Does this explain why in nine months, almost 150 annulment cases swamped, not Cebu City's Family Court, but Barili's. What's special about Branch 60? Is it Judge Ildefonso Suerte?
This 69-year-old magistrate presided over this court -- "used to," that is. The Supreme Court suspended Suerte on complaints ranging from violating Court orders against taking on new cases to foot-dragging on 170 complaints.
But annulment cases sailed through RTC 60 due to Suerte's "extraordinary fervor," the Court found out. Controversial acting Talisay City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro's petition was decided within 67 days from date of filing. The decision was made final 23 days later.
"Quickie" annulments result in the perception that courts are not a cathedral, but a casino. They clone Reno's mass-produced divorces.
"Divorce in one week," a Nevada ad trumpets. "No residency. No travel. $379 deposit refund guaranteed."
Barili hasn't aped that pitch. Neither is there evidence that the going rate for restoring battered bachelorhood was P50,000 ($892 at today's exchange rate). But word gets around.
"Some litigants made it appear they live in Barili, even if they didn't, just so they could file their cases there," SunStar revealed. When checked, their actual residences were elsewhere: Talamban, Osmeña Boulevard, Pardo, Tisa -- all in Cebu City.
Those "one-night-stand annulments" refocus attention on a 1997 unanimous Supreme Court decision directing courts to buttress marriage's indissoluble character. "I married the Duke for better or for worse," the Duchess of Windsor once said. "But not for lunch."
"Both our Constitution and our laws cherish the validity of marriage and unity of family," the ruling written by Associate Justice Artemio Panganiban states. Judges must resolve doubts "in favor of the existence and continuation of the marriage and against its dissolution."
Silver, golden or diamond wedding anniversary couples underscore what remains ideal in this society. "You shall be together when the white wings of death shall scatter your days," Khalil Gibran writes in "The Prophet."
Thus, the Court riveted eight guidelines before judges may accept "psychological incapacity" as nullification ground. The burden of proof is on the complainant's shoulders. By medical and clinical evidence, they must show incapacity existed on the wedding day-and that it was "grave, permanent or incurable," preventing fulfillment of marital duties.
The thrust is to prevent trivializing marriage into a flitting tryst or escape from moods. "Quickie" annulments do that.
"The best part of married life is the fights," Pulitzer Prize novelist Thornton Wilder writes. "The rest is so-so."
Governments have a stake in stable families, fostered by sturdy marriages. History passes through the family. Thus, the Court stipulates that trial courts must order the fiscal or solicitor to appear as counsel for government. "No decision will be handed down unless the Solicitor General issues a certification, which will be quoted in the decision, stating reasons for agreement or opposition."
Assembly-line annulments leave no room for those values. Over the centuries, they've underpinned what Thomas Aquinas defines as "inseparable union of minds... a couple pledged to each other in faithful friendship."
It's about fidelity during good days and the not-so-good days. "One man loved the pilgrim soul in you / And loved the sorrows on your changing face," W.B. Yeats scribbled in his poem "When You Are Old."
At his golden wedding anniversary, Henry Ford credited the success to the "same formula I've always used in making cars: stick to one model."
Tell that to Judge Suerte who retires on Jan. 23. He hopes to do so with benefits intact.
That's a thin hope. "In mabuhi ha hulat-hulat, matai bungtas," the Tausugs say. He who lives on hope will die of hunger.
The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Hilario Davide has disciplined six wayward judges in Cebu, ordering outright dismissal for some.
The final report will pinpoint fraudulent annulments. So, what happens to those who "remarried"? There's been early fallout. Disbarment cases were filed against Suerte, Prosecutor Cezar Tajanlangit and four others for getting RTC 60 to intervene in a pending murder case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo.
On leaving a Bangkok hospital with a pacemaker, an old UN colleague e-mailed a wisecrack: "The doctor says recuperation will speed up if I change my wife. Any suggestions?"
Barili unfortunately is no longer a viable option. So, I e-mailed back: "My wife says life would be smoother if she changed husbands. Do you have any suggestion?"
posted by Dante at 12:00 AM
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