Wedding of the Year Upcoming: Zsa Zsa Finally Gets Annuled
Ahh, patience is a virtue. The Harrison Ford-Calista Flockhart (of Liza Minelli-David Guest, although they broke up) hookup of local celebs, Zsa Zsa Padilla and Dolphy is not set to get upped a notch with Zsa Zsa's marriage finally getting annuled by court. Zsa Zsa has been estranged from her husband since the late 1980's. She's in her early 40's (I guess) and Dolphy, with whom she has 2 kids, is already 75.
For those of you not familiar with marriage laws in the Philippines, divorce is not a word in any code (divorce is banned in the Philippines, where the constitution states that "marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the state"), and legal separation is lawful only under such mitigating circumstances like physical violence and attempt by one spouse at the life of another. Read about more here and here. Meanwhile, let's hope Dolphy can still walk to the aisle.
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Although the word "divorce" does not appear in Philippine law, it has its equivalent. The fundamental difference between "annulment" under the Family Code and "divorce" in Western legal systems has to do with grounds. For instance, "irreconcilable differences"--a common ground in divorce cases--is not acceptable under Philippine law as a ground for annulment.
But if one looks closely, the ground "psychological incapacity" under the Family Code is one sweeping generalization that encompasses any ground--so long as the facts are presented correctly during the hearings.
As a practice, "psychological incapacity" has been resorted to in most showbiz annulments.
The effects of annulment includes all the effects of legal separation but not the other way wround. Furthermore, annulment severes the marital ties and both spouses are free to remarry.
:)
We should talk about this more often, even in light of Kris and Joey. I feel that it's high time these old laws be considered. But, no one wants to touch the constitution.
Of course, I'm not alone at wanting these laws repealed. Divorce advocates are mostly composed of battered spouses.