Inviolable Bond

“Hahaha! What a joke!”... “No way, that’s a loser’s gamble!”... “That’ll be a great sexperience! He-he.”

So many reactions - all in a minute after everyone heard from the radio that there is a bill filed to put a limit of 10 years to marriage and that it be made renewable on its expiry. Was it exactly as it was aired or just something I didn’t get right? Well, whatever…

I asked several men and women as to why they got married and
here are the summarized opinions in what we’ve found out:

Man marries a woman because he wants to be with the woman -:

•    he  loves
•    with whom he can share the conquests and thrashes of his labors in the privacy of their union
•    he can be himself at the end of the day without a mask of strength and steel
•    a lover whose company he can enjoy despite the troubles of the world in its noise, confusion and      pretensions
•   whose hands are willing to share the load of the burden that he encounters in his daily tasks
•   whose eager ears are willing to hear his pains and heartaches as she possesses equally warm arms to strengthen him when he feels like giving up
•   who loves him for himself per se without monetary valuation nor honors and properties to boast of
•   he can truly love, make love to and he can call his own alone
•   …and ‘basta lang.’ that means so many other reasons that can’t be put into words

Woman marries a man because she wants to be with the man -:

•    she loves
•    who truly loves her as a partner
•    who considers her a helpmate and a lover rather than a sex object
•    that can be strong enough to tame her but is so gentle to care for her
•    she can depend on for strength to defend her
•    she can rely upon to support her in her weakness
•    who she can respect in worthiness and courage to stand by her and guard their would be offspring against the harshness of the world
•    …and other reasons expressed by the hands

Ideally then, a man takes a woman to marry because he hopes to have someone he can have every minute of his life –as his true friend, devoted lover, personal confidant, tender counselor and help in his labors while a woman marries because, like her counterpart, she wishes to have somebody she can have in her lifetime as her caring friend, gentle lover, strong ally and reliable guardian when her vulnerability is apparent. 

The Family Code of the Philippines, Article I define Marriage as:

A special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequence and incidence are governed by law and not subject to stipulations except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage subject to limitations as may be provided by this (Family Code of the Philippines) code.

Giving a prescribed period on the affectivity of marriage is tantamount to making it a big joke. With all those freethinking and intelligent lawmakers who boast of moral uprightness and sanity in congress, it is almost a cinch that this bill will amount to nothing. Right, there is no 100% decent soul in all our elected officials but in our country where the family is still so important and the husband or the wife is given much respect by the most number – the person behind that bill must have other reasons. Hahaha! The reasons may come as mere speculations from us but for the author of the bill filed to be talked about is something, isn’t it? After all, there is this saying that states, “You are a mere nobody unless people talk about you.”