Why not just outlaw marriages, Mr. Speaker?

Batas Mauricio

IF the objective of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez Jr. in his proposed law seeking to speed up the annulment of marriages in the Philippines is to allegedly help people who are having problems with their spouses, I think I have a better suggestion for him and his allies in the Duterte government.

Why don’t they just simply remove or outlaw the institution of marriage among Filipinos through a law that would officially and formally permit the living together of a man and a woman even if they were not legally married in a church, or by a mayor, or by a judge?

That way, Speaker Alvarez, there wouldn’t be any need anymore for anyone to file a case for annulment, and spend precious pesos for lawyers, just to set aside their marriages. For as long as the unmarried husband and the wife would agree to separate, there would no longer be any stumbling block to their separation, since they were not married in the first place.

What is more, if Alvarez and his cohorts who seem to be against the sanctity of marriage in the Philippines would be able to come up with a law that would legally permit men and women enamored with one another to simply enter into live-in relationships, why, that would even solve the long festering problem of illegitimate children, or the “bastardos” or “bastardas” in the vernacular.

If there is no longer any requirement for a man and woman to marry, all of their offspring would now become legally legitimate. Each and every child would already be vested with equal rights, with the capacity to use the surnames of their fathers, if they are so minded, no longer needing to file any prior judicial action to compel recognition.

But, what would this kind of a system where there are no more marriages, or where annulments have become easier to secure, mean for the Filipino family? Would this not push all the more the destruction not only of the Filipino family but of the entire Filipino race as well, on account of the easier way by which our countrymen can turn their back on their duties and responsibilities as married men and women?

As I see it, the need to annul a marriage arises if the couple fails or refuses to uphold their bounden duties towards one another, towards their children, and towards the Filipino society as a whole. Couples separate because they no longer value their togetherness and unity, and family no longer holds any meaning for them.

But this was not the way of life that Filipinos grew up with. This was not the teaching that we received as Christian believers. If we are professing our faith in Jesus, we know that we cannot allow what God has put together—mainly, the man and woman who became husband and wife—to separate, according to His command. Indeed, it is not the will of Jesus that husbands and wives divorce. This is the command of the devil.

The devil abhors a strong marital union and relationship, because this marital strength gives rise to godly and therefore righteous members of the family. The devil would like the couple to separate because it would then be easier to bring them to adultery and concubinage, and for their children to be drawn to destructive vices that lead them to hell. We should stop this, my friends!

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Many government officials and employees are getting scared with the way they are being paid their wages and other emoluments, which is through withdrawals from automated teller machines (ATM) operated by government banks. The reason? The money they are supposed to receive as their salaries, or their bonuses for this Christmas, are being stolen.

It is clear now that no matter what assurances government banks are giving, stealing money deposited in ATM accounts has remained a relatively easy heist to carry out. According to those who came to me to complain about this, stealing money from ATM accounts has even become a widespread scam, especially so since it is through these accounts that bonuses are also distributed by the government regularly.

What is more burdensome is that, even if the theft of money belonging to government employees is reported seasonably by them, government banks are incapable of providing any immediate relief or refund. Affected government functionaries have to wait for around one whole month just so they can receive refunds, if any refund is agreed to be given at all by the banks.

The unmitigated stealing or theft of salaries and bonuses of government employees through ATM or through what is known as “computerized banking” is a long-festering problem. In fact, just a few months back, a bank which takes pride in having been here in the Philippines since the time of the Spaniards, was hit by a debilitating glitch which affected their ATM depositors.

Then, we also often hear of complaints involving the use of credit cards by persons other than the owners of those cards, which are also being used as ATM cards, to pay for high-end purchases which the card owners did not make. In most of these incidents, the ATM credit cards are said to have been used for purchases allegedly made abroad.

Government employees who are ATM card holders have asked me as to what they should do to avoid being victimized all over again by this scam. I told them not to deal with any bank anymore, not only over ATM or other computerized services. In short, my advice was, do not deposit your money in the bank, instead find a creative way to hide or use it right away.

The biggest issue with this kind of a banking scam is the clear inability of the banks to identity who the thieves are. Is it not a fact that there has been a lot of news reports about this in the country for quite some time now, yet no one is reported to have been taken to task and held liable for them?

I wish to ask now: where can we hide our money if not with the banks? As I see it, there is a need for us to immediately withdraw and spend right away the money that are being paid to us as salaries or bonuses through the ATM system. We should hurry to buy things which are needed in our residences or in our offices. As someone who was victimized on Friday, November 24, 2017, the bank told her the same thing — withdraw her money that was deposited in her ATM right away.

Then, perhaps, we should also already learn how to use whatever money we are earning on businesses, no matter how small or insignificant those businesses may appear to be. For it is through engaging even in a small business enterprise that we can make our money earn more. However, before diving into any venture, we must learn to humble ourselves before God and ask for His guidance, blessing, and protection.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com