MARRIAGE appears to be a threatened institution in the Philippines, if we go by the statistics compiled by government agencies responsible for tracking such matters.

In 2008, then Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera (now a congressional candidate in Quezon) noted that over the preceding seven years, the number of petitions for legal separation, annulment of marriages and declarations of nullity had increased year on year. In 2001, there were 4,529 cases for nullity filed; in 2007, this number rose to 7,753. In those seven years, said the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), there had been a 71.5 percent increase in the number of couples separating or seeking to dissolve their marriages.

The OSG records such petitions because it routinely intervenes in annulment cases, on the ground that the State has the duty to protect the institution of marriage. Indeed, when she revealed the ?alarming? rise in the number of annulment cases, Devanadera said she was ?disturbed? by the trend, and called on the Catholic Church ?to do something about it.?

The latest data from the Office of the Civil Registrar of the National Statistics Office, seem to bear out this trend. However, Director Lourdes Hufana warns that the numbers they?ve tracked are too small to establish a national trend, based as they are only on the number of requests for copies of documents granting annulments or nullity of marriages that their office received. Still, the numbers do indicate an upward trend: an 11.17 percent increase from 2006-2007, 2.36 percent increase from 2007-2008; and 6.58 percent increase from 2008-2009.

The weakening of marriage as an institution among Filipinos can be gleaned not only in the numbers of requests for legal separations, annulments or declarations of nullity.

The same 2008 study revealed that there had been an increase ?from 5.3 million to 8 million ? in the number of couples who reported they were living together in the past decade. In 2004, the NSO reported a two percent decline in the number of Filipinos who had gotten married. And despite the fact that the great majority of Filipinos are Roman Catholic, two of every three marriages (41.3 percent) are civil unions, while 37.1 percent are solemnized in religious rites.

So, not only are more Filipinos choosing to cohabit without benefit of formal or legal ceremonies, but of those who do get married civilly or in church, an increasing number is opting out of their unions. And as one news outfit observed: the number of such cases would undoubtedly rise ?if more couples had the means to break their ties legally.?

For lawyer Rowena ?Bing? Guanzon, who admits her practice is focused on the litigation of cases of violence against women (VAW), the troubled ?state of the union? in this country can be traced to the epidemic of violence among married couples. ?Not many women are aware that there are many forms of violence that a husband can commit,? she notes, ?and philandering or emotional abuse is one of them.?

Guanzon says about 95 percent of the civil and criminal cases she handles have acts of domestic violence at their core. In many cases, she says, the violence ?starts with verbal abuse, graduates into emotional abuse including playing around, escalates into control of a woman?s economic freedom, personal time and social contacts, before it manifests itself in physical violence.?

Since this escalation takes place over time, Guanzon says a woman may not even be aware that she is gradually losing control over her person and her life. ?Filipino women have a high threshold for pain and shame,? she observes. And even when a woman does wake up to the reality of violence in her marriage, ?she may not know what to do, may be afraid of taking action, and knows no one in whom she can confide.?

Guanzon speaks animatedly of the need for ?women?s rights advocates to continue working with women seeking to overcome violence,? adding: ?Even if she doesn?t yet want to file a case, she should report every instance of violence or at least tell someone else ? her sister, a friend, a workmate or neighbor ? about it.? That way, Guanzon points out, ?she could build a body of evidence that can be used when and if she decides to formally file a case.?

Many times, she notes, when a woman finally sues for legal separation, annulment or declaration of nullity, her husband or partner often resorts to the filing of ?retaliatory suits,? such as a recent case she handled where the man accused his former live-in girlfriend (a survivor of violence) of qualified theft, the amount conveniently falling into a non-bailable amount, resulting in the woman?s arrest and imprisonment. (The case was finally dismissed, and in a twist of fate, the man was later shot and killed inside his own home by a family security guard.)

Although R.A. 9262, or the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act, provides legal relief for women struggling with the reality of violence in their relationships, they still must contend, says Guanzon, with ?hostility in the institutions of justice? in the country. In the first six months after the law?s passage, she observes, ?judges were quite vocal about their disapproval? of certain provisions of the law. Until now, Guanzon says she still encounters police, public prosecutors and judges who either do not understand the law or deliberately distort or misread it.

Guanzon is calling for the convening of a national conference on VAW that would have lawyers like her, government agencies and women?s rights groups sharing their experiences and lessons learned in the handling of cases. She also bats for the creation of a network of referrals that could respond readily to women needing legal assistance.

The lawyer, who once served as mayor of Cadiz City, agrees with the observation that the number of troubled relationships is on the rise. Her ?proof? is strictly anecdotal. Last January, she launched her book ?The Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004? which discusses the law and its various applications.

Since then, in just three months, the book has sold 500 copies, and demand for copies grows among not just the legal community but even among NGOs and academic institutions.

?Lawyers also say they are swamped with requests for them to handle not just cases of separation but also for the granting of temporary or permanent protection orders,? one of the more popular features of R.A. 9262.

Marriage as an institution in the Philippines still holds a lot of attraction for couples in the throes of romance and hopeful about ever-afters. But it may be of some comfort for them to know that when the romance fades and love turns bitter, there is still a way out of an untenable relationship, even in the absence of a divorce law. ?