Heads up gold diggers, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is on to you.
In an interview on the ANC show Headstart yesterday, the lawmaker said that the civil union bill he filed last October won’t just benefit same-sex couples but also ugly rich people who may be taken advantage of.
“Many people today use ‘magic telescopes’ to compute net worth, some are even digital,” Alvarez said. “Even if the person is ugly, when they see that that the net worth is high, they’ll marry that person. That’s what we’re protecting, those married for convenience.”
Alvarez said there is a need to protect these people because the provision of absolute community of property in the Family Code enacted in 1987 automatically makes spouses co-owners of all properties, even those acquired before the marriage. This system will not apply to civil unions should his proposal be enacted.
The proposed law will also provide a backup plan for partners that is not currently available to married couples.
Civil unions have most of the advantages of getting married — like adopting children — with the added benefit of the option to dissolve the partnership. The Philippines is the only country in the world apart from the Vatican that has not legalized divorce. Annulments are usually very expensive and can take years to settle.
