Tito Sotto to push for 'administrative annulment' if elected back in Senate

Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said he will propose the legislation of “administrative annulment” in the country, instead of divorce, if he gets reelected as senator.

On Super Radyo dzBB’s “Ikaw na Ba? The Senatorial Interviews,” Sotte reiterated his stance against divorce, saying that processing administrative annulment between couples would be better and cheaper.

“Mas maganda ‘yun. Tignan mo ‘yung bill ng divorce nila, binasa ko eh, ganon din—tedious, matagal din, may korte ka rin. Wala rin, dinagdagan lang ‘yung mga elements,” he said.

(My proposal is better. I looked at the divorce bill, it's the same with annulment—it’s tedious, long, and you also have to go to a court. It just added a few elements.)

“Ito, ang gawin natin, administrative annulment, wala na 'yung korte, wala na 'yung SolGen. Dadali 'yan, magiging mura, at DSWD lang, tapos dagdagan natin… Kasi ‘yung current annulment, ano lang eh psychological incapacity. Dagdagan natin ng infidelity at saka violence,” he added.

(What we will do in the administrative annulment is to no longer involve the court and the SolGen. It will be easier and cheaper. We only have to tap the DSWD and add infidelity and violence as grounds.)

Last year, the House of Representatives approved on final reading the proposed measure on absolute divorce, which explicitly provides for marital infidelity and domestic violence as grounds for divorce, something that is not currently provided under the Family Code.

The grounds for Divorce bill also includes all the grounds for legal separation, annulment, and declaration of nullity of marriage under the Family Code.

The Divorce bill, however, does not provide for a no-fault divorce.

Confidential funds

In the same interview, Sotto also shared his sentiments regarding the use and monitoring of confidential and intelligence funds of government agencies.

“Dapat madiin ang ika nga, pagmo-monitor ng Kongreso doon sa paggamit ng confidential and intelligence funds. May oversight dapat. So habang nangyayari ‘yan ay naiimbestigahan na hindi ‘yung pagkatapos na at saka nanghuhula tayo paano ginasta,” the senatorial aspirant said.

(The Congress' monitoring of the use of confidential and intelligence funds should be stricter. There should be an oversight. So while the fund is being used, it's already being investigated and we don’t need to guess in the end how it was utilized.)

According to Sotto, during his time as senator, the Senate had no confidential funds.

“Wala kaming ni singkong ginastos sa intelligence funds o confidential funds. ‘Yun ang masasabi ko. Sigurado,” he said.

(We didn’t spend any intelligence or confidential funds. That I can assure you.)

Medical cannabis

Sotto also said that he is in favor of the legalization of marijuana or cannabis for medical purposes.

He, however, explained that medical cannabis should not be produced in the country and should be imported from other countries instead.

“Medical cannabis, cannabis oil, 'yung mga ganyan, wala akong problema ro’n. Hindi ako kumokontra ro’n. Ang ayaw ko 'yung magtatanim ka, magpro-produce ka tapos kunwari gagawin mong oil,” he said.

(I have no problem with medical cannabis or cannabis oil. I'm not against that. What I’m opposed to is planting and producing that here and pretending to make an oil out of it.)

Last year, the House also approved on third and final reading a bill that would provide access to medical marijuana. A counterpart bill in the Senate was sponsored in the plenary.

The bill defines a qualified patient as a person who has been diagnosed by an accredited physician as having a medical condition or has symptoms associated with a medical condition who, in the accredited physician's evaluation, will receive medical cannabis as treatment.

Death penalty

Sotto also said he is in favor of restoring the death penalty in the Philippines for those who have committed heinous crimes and drug trafficking.

However, he said he is already having second thoughts on the matter as there should be a separate prison for high level drug traffickers instead of putting them on death row.

“Pabor pero medyo nagdadalawang isip na ‘ko diyan. Kasi may solusyon ako na ginawa na batas na ngayon eh, ginagawa na ni [Justice Secretary] Boying dapat eh. Alisin natin lahat ‘yung mga high level drug traffickers, ‘wag isama diyan, ihiwalay sila,” he said.

(I’m in favor of that but I'm having second thoughts. Because I have a solution that should already be implemented by the DOJ. Let's separate the high level drug traffickers from the other PDLs.)

“Establish a penitentiary for high level drug traffickers… without killing them,” he added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News