Most Filipinos back divorce and support is growing in the largely Catholic nation, the only one in the world alongside the Vatican that does not allow the dissolution of failed marriages, a survey has found.
Sixty per cent of adults polled by Manila-based Social Weather Stations in November said divorce should be legalised in the Philippines, up 10 percentage points from three years earlier.
Support for a change in the law rose across society in the mainly Catholic Asian nation, regardless of sex and marital status, according to the survey of 1,800 adults nationwide.
"This is a recognition that there is this need (to allow divorce). The state should give those involved in irreparable marriages the opportunity to move on," House of Representatives member Emerenciana de Jesus told AFP today.
Marriage vows are a lifetime commitment in the Philippines, where some 80 per cent of the 100 million strong population are Catholic, and which also bans abortions and same-sex unions.
Women who commit adultery can be punished with a six-year jail term, while husbands can be jailed up to four years for having a mistress - although these laws are rarely enforced.
De Jesus said she hoped the poll would give fresh impetus for a change in marriage law, including a divorce bill she co-authored that has languished in parliament for years.
The Social Weather Stations survey showed a support for divorce had grown rapidly in recent years, from the 50 per cent that backed it in March 2011 and 43 per cent in May 2005.
A divorce law would have virtually no chance of being passed without the support of the Philippines' bachelor President Benigno Aquino, who has declared that changing the law is not a priority.
"That issue has not been discussed at cabinet level," Aquino's spokesman Herminio Coloma told AFP today.
De Jesus said a divorce law would uphold Filipina women's rights, particularly those who are subjected to domestic abuse or abandoned wives left to fend for their children.
She said unhappy Filipino couples often resort to asking courts to allow them to split their conjugal properties, or to have their wedding declared invalid. The latter is allowed in some instances, including "psychological incapacity" by either partner.
In 2012, ignoring strong church opposition, parliament passed a law requiring the Philippine government to provide free birth control to couples and sex education to children.
The law came into effect last year after the Supreme Court struck down a legal challenge by church-backed groups.
