MANILA – Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday said her newly-filed dissolution of marriage bill gives people in problematic marriages another chance at love and building a family.

“Eh kung sira na ang kasal sa ngayon ito namang dissolution of marriage bill ay magbibigay ng bagong pagkakataon na magbuo ulit ng kasal at ng pamilya and, di ba, Sir Johnson, lahat naman nagde-deserve ng second chance na iyan…makapagsimulang muli sa pag-ibig, sa pagtataya, maging sa kasal at sa pamilya nga. Sa kaligayan sa buhay,” the lawmaker said.

(If a marriage is destroyed, this dissolution of marriage bill will give people a chance to remarry and estbalish a family, and doesn't everyone deserve that second chance...to start anew, to love, to marry again, to build a new family. To be happy.)

Hontiveros had previously said that her proposed divorce bill aims to provide a divorcee a clean start, and remarry without any legal hitches.

• Hontiveros files 'no-fault' divorce bill amid church objection

“Itong dissolution of marriage ay isang urgent na reform measure para sa napakaraming Pilipino naipit na sa mga hindi na maayos na talaga na mga masira or abusado pa ngang mga relasyon. Napakadami sa ating mga kababayan…ay hindi makaalis sa mga mapang-abuso at mapanakit na mga relasyon,” she stressed.

(This dissolution of marriage bill is an urgent reform measure for Filipinos trapped in damaged and abusive relationships. So many of our countrymen...cannot leave abusive relationships that are hurting them already.)

Hontiveros, the lone opposition Senate candidate who won a seat in the 2022 elections, also said she is willing to cross party lines towards the passage of a divorce bill in the country.

Senators Robin Padilla and Raffy Tulfo have also filed their own versions of the divorce bill.

• 'Everybody deserves a second chance': Robin Padilla defends push for divorce law
• 3 senador naghain ng kaniya-kaniyang bersiyon ng divorce bill

“Siguro mas maraming pagkakapareho kaysa pagkakaiba sa mga probisyon ang aming inihain na dissolution of marriage bills,” Hontiveros said.

(I think our divorce bills have more similarities than differences.)

“At tulad sa sinomang senador pa nung nakaraang Kongreso eh umaasa po ako Sir Johnson na magtutulungan kami kung magkakaparehong adbokasiya naman, as in the past 6 years lagi po akong handang tumawid sa party lines at makiisa sa ibang mga senador para magsulong ng mga importanteng batas.”

(And rest assured that, as in the past 6 years, I will work with any senator with whom I share an advocacy so we can pass important bills.)

--TeleRadyo, 14 July 2022