🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 84 (from laksa089)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa084.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html","crawl_time":1771116882,"first_indexed_time":1699078316,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,nytimes!www,\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html s443","src_root_hash":"4566504020376537684","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"How Long Will Divorce Remain Illegal in the Philippines? - The New York Times","meta_descriptions":["A campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Advertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\nA campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers.\nJanet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment.\nCredit...\nEzra Acayan for The New York Times\nNov. 4, 2023\nNearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws.\nThousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many.\nPartly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce.\nBut the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition.\nThis has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education.\n“We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.”\nImage\nThe pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila.\nThe approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women.\n“We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?”\nIn recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year.\n“We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview.\nShe added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists.\n“For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said.\nImage\nSenator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines.\nDivorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce.\nThat changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it.\nMs. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature.\nKeeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages.\nImage\nA.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members.\nJanet Guevarra, 36, spent $5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier.\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.”\nHaidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March.\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.”\nSome supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated.\nMs. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion.\nImage\nMs. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application.\n“Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said.\nSenator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.”\n“I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said.\nAny bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.”\nFather Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.”\nA decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition.\n“We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile.\nSui-Lee Wee\nis the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.\nA version of this article appears in print on\nNov. 5, 2023\n, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce\n.\nOrder Reprints\n|\nToday’s Paper\n|\nSubscribe\nRelated Content\nMore in Asia Pacific\nLauren DeCicca for The New York Times\nKim Hong-Ji\/Reuters\nQilai Shen for The New York Times\nDoug Mills\/The New York Times\nEditors’ Picks\nBrian Rea\nAntonio de Luca\/The New York Times\nTrending in The Times\nCassidy Araiza for The New York Times\nJames Hill for The New York Times\nColumbia Pictures\/Sony Pictures Animation\nNicolas Ortega\nMark Abramson for The New York Times\nCristina Matuozzi for The New York Times\nAriana Drehsler for The New York Times\nMichael Buholzer\/EPA, via Shutterstock\nJohn Atashian\/Getty Images\nDragan Arsovski\nAdvertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#site-index)\n\nSearch & Section Navigation\n\nSection Navigation\n\nSearch\n\n[Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\n\n[Log in](https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2023%252F11%252F04%252Fworld%252Fasia%252Fphilippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html&asset=masthead)\n\nSaturday, February 14, 2026\n\n[Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper)\n\n[Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\\|‘Just Like Medicine’: A New Push for Divorce in a Nation Where It’s Illegal\n\nhttps:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html\n\n- Share full article\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-top)\n\nSupported by\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-sponsor)\n# ‘Just Like Medicine’: A New Push for Divorce in a Nation Where It’s Illegal\nA campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers.\n\n- Share full article\n\n![A woman indoors in her home, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “DIVORCE IS A HUMAN RIGHT.”](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nJanet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment.Credit...Ezra Acayan for The New York Times\n\nBy [Sui-Lee Wee](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sui-lee-wee)\n\nPhotographs by Ezra Acayan\n\nReporting from Manila\n\nNov. 4, 2023\n\n[Leer en español](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/es\/2023\/11\/08\/espanol\/divorcio-prohibido-filipinas.html \"Read in Spanish\")\n\nNearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws.\n\nThousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many.\n\nPartly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce.\n\nBut the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition.\n\nThis has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education.\n\n“We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.”\n\nImage\n\n![A woman sitting on a swing in a playground](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nThe pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila.\n\nThe approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women.\n\n“We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?”\n\nIn recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year.\n\n“We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview.\n\nShe added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists.\n\n“For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said.\n\nImage\n\n![A woman seated at a desk in an office.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nSenator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines.\n\nDivorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce.\n\nThat changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it.\n\nMs. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature.\n\nKeeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages.\n\nImage\n\n![A woman in a dark jacket and white T-shirt standing on what appears to be a balcony connecting two apartment blocks.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members.\n\nJanet Guevarra, 36, spent \\$5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier.\n\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.”\n\nHaidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March.\n\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.”\n\nSome supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated.\n\nMs. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion.\n\n## Editors’ Picks\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/11\/well\/11WELL-OLYMPIANS-DISAPPOINTMENT4\/11WELL-OLYMPIANS-DISAPPOINTMENT4-thumbLarge.jpg)What Olympians Can Teach Us About Disappointment](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/11\/well\/move\/winter-olympics-athletes-disappointment.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/10\/multimedia\/10LOTW-JACOBS-04-kqct\/10LOTW-JACOBS-04-kqct-thumbLarge.jpg)Vibrant Curls and Clothes With Volume](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/10\/style\/street-style-look-voluminous-curly-hair-baggy-clothes.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/14\/multimedia\/14ST-WHEEL-PARTY-CRUSH-pthc\/14ST-WHEEL-PARTY-CRUSH-pthc-thumbLarge.jpg)Gen Z’s Favorite Party Platform Wants to Set You Up](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/14\/style\/partiful-crush-feature.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-pp_edpick)\n\nImage\n\n![A woman hoisting a wire box of documents into a shelf.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMs. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application.\n\n“Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said.\n\nSenator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.”\n\n“I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said.\n\nAny bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.”\n\nFather Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.”\n\nA decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition.\n\n“We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile.\n\n[Sui-Lee Wee](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sui-lee-wee) is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on Nov. 5, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\nSee more on: [Roman Catholic Church](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/organization\/roman-catholic-church)\n\n- Share full article\n\n***\n## Around the World With The Times\n### Our reporters across the globe take you into the field.\n***\n- **Polyamory in Brazil:** More people in a still largely conservative and religious nation [are rejecting monogamy as they seek new definitions of romance, and of family](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/14\/world\/americas\/brazil-polyamory-non-monogamy-catholic.html).\n- **Beirut Beneath Drones:** More than a year into a cease-fire, [the mechanical whir of Israeli drones above the Lebanese capital](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/14\/world\/middleeast\/beirut-drones-sound-israel-airstrikes.html) is a reminder that, in many ways, the war never really ended.\n- **Kenya Bans Cash Bouquets:** Floral arrangements crafted from carefully-folded, colorful bank notes [had become a popular symbol of love in Nairobi](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/13\/world\/africa\/kenya-money-bouquets-valentines-day.html).\n- **A Shift in Chinese Taste:** Malaysian durian farmers [saw immense profits over the last decade as China](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/10\/world\/asia\/durian-malaysia-china-demand.html) snapped up the fruit. But things have changed.\n\n## Related Content\n### [More in Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\n- [Farmers Made a Fortune on This Fruit. Now It Is Piling Up.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/10\/world\/asia\/durian-malaysia-china-demand.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/01\/29\/multimedia\/00int-malaysia-durian-promo\/00int-malaysia-durian-01-wmzp-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times\n- [Would You Leave Your Bag Unattended at a Starbucks? They Did. For Hours.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/12\/world\/asia\/south-korea-cafe-culture.html)\n  \n  ![Like many cafes and restaurants in South Korea, Starbucks does not prohibit customers from leaving personal belongings in their seats. But some go to extremes.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/12\/multimedia\/12int-skorea-cafes-ftlw\/12int-skorea-cafes-ftlw-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kim Hong-Ji\/Reuters\n- [New Research Absolves the Woman Blamed for a Dynasty’s Ruin](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/14\/world\/asia\/china-zhou-dynasty-king-climate-change.html)\n  \n  ![Researchers digging to unearth remnants of what is believed to have been a fortified gate guarding an entrance to the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty, near Hejia Village, China, in December.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06int-china-dynasty-vkhg\/06int-china-dynasty-vkhg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Qilai Shen for The New York Times\n- [An Olympics of Firsts: Brazil and Kazakhstan Claim Surprise Golds](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/14\/world\/olympics\/brazil-kazakhstan-gold-medals-winter-olympics.html)\n  \n  ![Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal in men’s figure skating on Friday at the Winter Olympics in Milan.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/14\/multimedia\/14int-olympics-firstgolds-topart-jtqv\/14int-olympics-firstgolds-topart-jtqv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Doug Mills\/The New York Times\n\n### Editors’ Picks\n- [I Had Buyer’s Remorse. It Almost Ended My Marriage.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/13\/style\/modern-love-i-had-buyers-remorse-it-almost-ended-my-marriage.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/15\/fashion\/15ST-MODERN-REALESTATE-DELAMARTRE\/15ST-MODERN-REALESTATE-DELAMARTRE-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Brian Rea\n- [Your 35 (New! Crowdsourced!) 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Navalny in his office in Moscow in 2014. He was President Vladimir V. 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indoors in her home, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “DIVORCE IS A HUMAN RIGHT.”](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nJanet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment.Credit...Ezra Acayan for The New York Times\n\nNov. 4, 2023\n\nNearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws.\n\nThousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many.\n\nPartly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce.\n\nBut the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition.\n\nThis has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education.\n\n“We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.”\n\nImage\n\n![A woman sitting on a swing in a playground](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nThe pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila.\n\nThe approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women.\n\n“We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?”\n\nIn recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year.\n\n“We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview.\n\nShe added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists.\n\n“For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said.\n\nImage\n\n![A woman seated at a desk in an office.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nSenator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines.\n\nDivorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce.\n\nThat changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it.\n\nMs. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature.\n\nKeeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages.\n\nImage\n\n![A woman in a dark jacket and white T-shirt standing on what appears to be a balcony connecting two apartment blocks.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members.\n\nJanet Guevarra, 36, spent \\$5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier.\n\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.”\n\nHaidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March.\n\nThe judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.”\n\nSome supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated.\n\nMs. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion.\n\nImage\n\n![A woman hoisting a wire box of documents into a shelf.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2023\/10\/09\/multimedia\/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb\/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nMs. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application.\n\n“Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said.\n\nSenator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.”\n\n“I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said.\n\nAny bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.”\n\nFather Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.”\n\nA decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition.\n\n“We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile.\n\n[Sui-Lee Wee](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/sui-lee-wee) is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on Nov. 5, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\n## Related Content\n[More in Asia Pacific](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/world\/asia)\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/01\/29\/multimedia\/00int-malaysia-durian-promo\/00int-malaysia-durian-01-wmzp-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times\n- ![Like many cafes and restaurants in South Korea, Starbucks does not prohibit customers from leaving personal belongings in their seats. But some go to extremes.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/12\/multimedia\/12int-skorea-cafes-ftlw\/12int-skorea-cafes-ftlw-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kim Hong-Ji\/Reuters\n- ![Researchers digging to unearth remnants of what is believed to have been a fortified gate guarding an entrance to the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty, near Hejia Village, China, in December.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/06\/multimedia\/06int-china-dynasty-vkhg\/06int-china-dynasty-vkhg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Qilai Shen for The New York Times\n- ![Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal in men’s figure skating on Friday at the Winter Olympics in Milan.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/14\/multimedia\/14int-olympics-firstgolds-topart-jtqv\/14int-olympics-firstgolds-topart-jtqv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Doug Mills\/The New York Times\n\nEditors’ Picks\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/15\/fashion\/15ST-MODERN-REALESTATE-DELAMARTRE\/15ST-MODERN-REALESTATE-DELAMARTRE-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Brian Rea\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/13\/fashion\/00ST-Date-Promo\/00ST-Date-Promo-square640-v3.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Antonio de Luca\/The New York Times\n\nTrending in The Times\n\n- ![The 20-year-old streamer goes to extremes to achieve an ideal of male beauty, but that’s not the only reason he’s become an online sensation.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/12\/multimedia\/ST-CLAVICULAR-01-bpkt\/ST-CLAVICULAR-01-bpkt-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times\n- ![Aleksei A. Navalny in his office in Moscow in 2014. He was President Vladimir V. Putin’s most prominent political opponent when he died in a Russian prison in 2024.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/14\/multimedia\/14int-navalny-vwjp\/14int-navalny-vwjp-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  James Hill for The New York Times\n- ![Will, voiced by Caleb McLaughlin, in “Goat,” directed by Tyree Dillihay.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/13\/multimedia\/12cul-goat-review-vkwg\/12cul-goat-review-vkwg-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Columbia Pictures\/Sony Pictures Animation\n- ![Unlock better sleep.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/15\/realestate\/11re-sleeping-with-other-people-ILLO\/11re-sleeping-with-other-people-ILLO-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Nicolas Ortega\n- ![U.S. companies and consumers are paying most of the cost of tariffs, in the form of higher prices. ](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/12\/multimedia\/12dc-tariffs-jlvq\/12dc-tariffs-jlvq-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Mark Abramson for The New York Times\n- ![Days after the Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan, federal employees raised an American flag in its place. 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He left Cake after “Fashion Nugget,” partly over differences with the lead singer, John McCrea.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/11\/multimedia\/00Brown-kphf\/00Brown-kphf-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  John Atashian\/Getty Images\n- ![A Hermann’s tortoise of North Macedonia’s Golem Grad island, with an injury from a fall on its carapace.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/14\/multimedia\/14HS-tb-tortoises-stillpromo\/14HS-tb-tortoises-stillpromo-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Dragan Arsovski\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/04\/world\/asia\/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-bottom)","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html
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Meta Title	How Long Will Divorce Remain Illegal in the Philippines? - The New York Times
Meta Description	A campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers.
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Boilerpipe Text	Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT A campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers. Janet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment. Credit... Ezra Acayan for The New York Times Nov. 4, 2023 Nearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws. Thousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many. Partly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce. But the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition. This has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education. “We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.” Image The pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila. The approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women. “We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?” In recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year. “We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview. She added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists. “For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said. Image Senator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines. Divorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce. That changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it. Ms. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature. Keeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages. Image A.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. Janet Guevarra, 36, spent $5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier. The judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.” Haidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March. The judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.” Some supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated. Ms. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion. Image Ms. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application. “Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said. Senator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.” “I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said. Any bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.” Father Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.” A decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition. “We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile. Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region. A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 5, 2023 , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce . Order Reprints \| Today’s Paper \| Subscribe Related Content More in Asia Pacific Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters Qilai Shen for The New York Times Doug Mills/The New York Times Editors’ Picks Brian Rea Antonio de Luca/The New York Times Trending in The Times Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times James Hill for The New York Times Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation Nicolas Ortega Mark Abramson for The New York Times Cristina Matuozzi for The New York Times Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times Michael Buholzer/EPA, via Shutterstock John Atashian/Getty Images Dragan Arsovski Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#site-index) Search & Section Navigation Section Navigation Search [Asia Pacific](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia) [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2023%252F11%252F04%252Fworld%252Fasia%252Fphilippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html&asset=masthead) Saturday, February 14, 2026 [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) [Asia Pacific](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia)\\|‘Just Like Medicine’: A New Push for Divorce in a Nation Where It’s Illegal https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html - Share full article Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-top) Supported by [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-sponsor) # ‘Just Like Medicine’: A New Push for Divorce in a Nation Where It’s Illegal A campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers. - Share full article ![A woman indoors in her home, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “DIVORCE IS A HUMAN RIGHT.”](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Janet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment.Credit...Ezra Acayan for The New York Times By [Sui-Lee Wee](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sui-lee-wee) Photographs by Ezra Acayan Reporting from Manila Nov. 4, 2023 [Leer en español](https://www.nytimes.com/es/2023/11/08/espanol/divorcio-prohibido-filipinas.html "Read in Spanish") Nearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws. Thousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many. Partly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce. But the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition. This has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education. “We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.” Image ![A woman sitting on a swing in a playground](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) The pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila. The approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women. “We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?” In recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year. “We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview. She added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists. “For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said. Image ![A woman seated at a desk in an office.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Senator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines. Divorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce. That changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it. Ms. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature. Keeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages. Image ![A woman in a dark jacket and white T-shirt standing on what appears to be a balcony connecting two apartment blocks.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. Janet Guevarra, 36, spent \$5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier. The judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.” Haidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March. The judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.” Some supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated. Ms. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion. ## Editors’ Picks [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/11/well/11WELL-OLYMPIANS-DISAPPOINTMENT4/11WELL-OLYMPIANS-DISAPPOINTMENT4-thumbLarge.jpg)What Olympians Can Teach Us About Disappointment](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/well/move/winter-olympics-athletes-disappointment.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/10/multimedia/10LOTW-JACOBS-04-kqct/10LOTW-JACOBS-04-kqct-thumbLarge.jpg)Vibrant Curls and Clothes With Volume](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/style/street-style-look-voluminous-curly-hair-baggy-clothes.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/02/14/multimedia/14ST-WHEEL-PARTY-CRUSH-pthc/14ST-WHEEL-PARTY-CRUSH-pthc-thumbLarge.jpg)Gen Z’s Favorite Party Platform Wants to Set You Up](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/style/partiful-crush-feature.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-pp_edpick) Image ![A woman hoisting a wire box of documents into a shelf.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Ms. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application. “Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said. Senator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.” “I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said. Any bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.” Father Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.” A decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition. “We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile. [Sui-Lee Wee](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sui-lee-wee) is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region. A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 5, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce. 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Readable Markdown	Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/asia/philippines-divorce-illegal-legislation.html#after-top) A campaign in the Philippines that frames divorce as a basic human right is gaining momentum, despite systemic and religious barriers. ![A woman indoors in her home, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “DIVORCE IS A HUMAN RIGHT.”](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-01-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Janet Kristine Guevarra had to save more than a year’s wages to pay for an annulment.Credit...Ezra Acayan for The New York Times Nov. 4, 2023 Nearly 15 years ago, Mary Nepomuceno separated from her husband. She remains in limbo because divorce — and the possibility of a new marriage and a clean slate in life — is forbidden by her country’s laws. Thousands of people like Ms. Nepomuceno are trapped in long-dead marriages in the Philippines, the only country in the world, other than the Vatican, where divorce remains illegal. They live completely separate lives from their spouses, after splitting up for reasons like abuse and incompatibility. Steep legal fees and mounds of paperwork make annulment practically impossible for many. Partly because of their growing numbers and plight, attitudes in the country, where nearly 80 percent of the population is Catholic, have changed. Surveys show that half of Filipinos now support divorce. Even the president has signaled openness to the idea, and the Philippines is the closest it has ever been to legalizing divorce. But the issue is far from settled. The powerful Catholic Church has deemed pro-divorce activism to be “irrational advocacy.” Conservative lawmakers remain steadfast in their opposition. This has prompted some in the legalization camp to frame divorce as a basic human right, like access to health care or education. “We’re saying that this is just like medicine,” said Ms. Nepomuceno, 54. “You only take this if you’re sick, but you don’t deprive those sick people of the medicine.” Image ![A woman sitting on a swing in a playground](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-03-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) The pro-divorce activist Mary Nepomuceno last month in her village, Paranaque, in Metro Manila. The approach is a departure from the previous strategy of sharing personal stories in the hope of winning lawmakers’ sympathy. Now, activists are using science and statistics to present the long-term effects that keeping divorce illegal has on millions of abused women. “We used to cry, we would get angry,” said A.J. Alfafara, a founder of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. “It used to be a fight, like how do we get people to listen?” In recent months, a Senate committee approved a bill on divorce for the first time in more than 30 years. The bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Senate, which lawmakers say could happen next year. “We are feeling some kind of shifts, even in the Senate, and I hope that they will gather momentum and be strong enough to carry this bill to the finish line,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview. She added that she had been moved by her meetings with activists. “For me, one of the most compelling themes that came from them is that this is a second chance — a second chance at life, a second chance at love, a second chance at happiness — and why should we deny people that right?” she said. Image ![A woman seated at a desk in an office.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-05-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Senator Risa Hontiveros says she feels “shifts” in how divorce is perceived in the Philippines. Divorce has a complicated history in the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, divorce was banned, but legal separation was allowed under narrow conditions. Under American occupation, it was made legal, but only on the grounds of adultery and concubinage. The Japanese, who occupied the Philippines during World War II, expanded the divorce law, allowing more grounds for people to seek divorce. That changed after the enactment of the country’s Civil Code in 1950. But Muslim citizens, who make up 5 percent of the population, are allowed to divorce, because in 1977, Ferdinand E. Marcos, the president at the time, signed legislation allowing it. Ms. Alfafara, a Protestant, separated from her husband in 2012. She said she had not seen her son in more than a decade, since he chose at the age of 9 to live with his father. When Ms. Alfafara, 46, who works as a virtual office assistant, wanted to buy a house, she was told she had to get her husband’s signature. Keeping divorce illegal means that abusive husbands can retain joint custody of their children and are entitled to share in their wives’ assets. Another concern is the mental trauma suffered by millions of women trapped in abusive marriages. Image ![A woman in a dark jacket and white T-shirt standing on what appears to be a balcony connecting two apartment blocks.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-02-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A.J. Alfafara, who separated from her husband in 2012, co-founded Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, which has more than a half-million members. Janet Guevarra, 36, spent \$5,200 for her annulment — 15 times what she was making monthly in the Philippines. To save the money, she quit her job in I.T. administration and moved to Singapore to work as an aide in a nursing home. In 2022, a court rejected her petition, which she had filed three years earlier. The judge ruled that Ms. Guevarra’s testimony that her husband “grabbed her collar, pushed and attempted to punch her during heated arguments is not enough basis to prove her claim of physical or verbal abuse.” The judge added, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution protected by the state, cannot be dissolved at the whim of the parties.” Haidee Sanchez, 39, said it pained her each time she had to write her husband’s last name on all official documents. She said her husband, who never provided for her family and was repeatedly unfaithful, tried to choke her when she confronted him over an affair. In 2019, she filed for an annulment, but her motion was denied in March. The judge ruled that Ms. Sanchez had failed to prove her case “with clear and convincing proof.” Some supporters of the legislation have advised against using the word “divorce” to describe it, saying the term has become politicized. Alternative language like “legal separation” and “annulment expansion” has been floated. Ms. Hontiveros recalled that one of her colleagues advised her, “Don’t call it a divorce bill, call it the dissolution of marriage bill.” She followed that suggestion. Image ![A woman hoisting a wire box of documents into a shelf.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/09/multimedia/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb/00philippines-divorce-06-vkmb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Ms. Guevarra with documents she used in her annulment application. “Maybe it just gives those who are ambivalent about it or opposed to it another way to talk about it a little less uncomfortably,” she said. Senator Pia Cayetano, a veteran lawmaker and an outspoken supporter of divorce, said her colleagues in the Senate “really recognize that there are instances where it’s practically inhumane to make a couple live together.” “I have heard them say things to that effect, that there’s got to be a solution, and they’re happy to support something,” Senator Cayetano said. Any bill that is passed by the Senate would also have to be cleared by the House of Representatives before going to the president, who would sign it into law. Unlike his predecessors, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Jr. has signaled that he is open to legalizing divorce, though he cautioned that it “should not be easy.” Father Jerome Secillano, the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, told a local radio station last year, “It is sad to know that we have legislators who rather focus on breaking marriages and the family rather than fixing them or strengthening the marital bond.” A decade ago, when the Philippine Congress passed legislation that gave people access to contraception, the clergy held protests and threatened to excommunicate lawmakers for supporting the bill. This time, said Edcel Lagman, a congressman who has pushed for both issues, church officials have been less vocal in its opposition. “We’ve shown that we can beat the church, and we can do it again,” he said, flashing a smile. [Sui-Lee Wee](https://www.nytimes.com/by/sui-lee-wee) is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region. A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 5, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Second Chance at Life’: Filipinos Push to Legalize Divorce. [Order Reprints](https://nytimes.wrightsmedia.com/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY) ## Related Content [More in Asia Pacific](https://www.nytimes.com/section/world/asia) - ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/01/29/multimedia/00int-malaysia-durian-promo/00int-malaysia-durian-01-wmzp-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times - ![Like many cafes and restaurants in South Korea, Starbucks does not prohibit customers from leaving personal belongings in their seats. 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