While the law on divorce is not yet in effect, the Diocese of Laoag has launched a matrimonial tribunal, the first in the Ilocos Region in northern Philippines. Similar tribunals, however, can be found in other parts of the country.
According to the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Reverend Father Noel Ian Rabago, who returned to the diocese recently with a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, has been appointed judicial vicar by Bishop Sergio Utleg.
A matrimonial tribunal is a court of ecclesiastical laws that decides on nullity of marriages.
It is directly under the direction of the local bishop and supervised by a judicial vicar.
Rabago said that the tribunal can hear cases of couples who want to part ways and seek nullification of their marriage because of certain problems that question the validity of the union.
According to him, the Diocese of Laoag is seeking the approval of Pope Benedict XVI for the matrimonial tribunal in the Ilocos Region to widen its jurisdiction.
Rabago and Utleg, though, said that the Catholic Church still believes in the sanctity of marriage.
BY JOMAR CANLAS REPORTER
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