DIVORCE IN PHILIPPINES AND SCIENCE OF LIVING TOGETHER

"Divorce is the one human tragedy that reduces everything to cash." RITA MAE BROWN

By ALEX P. VIDAL
The next congress will introduce the divorce bill in the Philippines after the elections in May this year. At least this was the assurance made by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte most recently.
The proposed measure is expected to again raise the blood pressure of Roman Catholic bishops still clearing the cobwebs in a landmark Reproductive Health (RH) bill setback.
The bill would be about relationship between husband and wife, about companionship in a marital household, about living together permanently under one roof and whether to maintain the roof or abandon it. Scientific studies have rather consistently demonstrated that companionship contributes to good health.
The quality of relationships also is a factor, according to Xinhua Steve Ren, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and research health scientist with the Center for Health Quality, Outcome, and Economic Research of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts.

FINDINGS

Here are some of Ren's other findings secured by editors of Men's Health:
-- Separation and divorce can actually improve health--but only in cases where there were serious ongoing marital problems. Separation and divorce are most detrimental to health when the marriage had no prior serious problems and the crisis arose with the sudden discovery of infidelity.
-- Being separated is more injurious to health than divorce. The separated were more than two times as likely to consider themselves in poor health than were married folks, while divorced people were about 1.3 times more likely to think themselves in ill health.
-- The quality of a relationship--whether marriage or cohabitation--affects the participants' health. Those in unhappy relationships are at higher health risk than those who are in happy relationships and, surprisingly, even than those who are divorced.
-- Compared to married people, the unmarried tend to have higher death rates from all causes, have higher levels of stress, and use more health services.