House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez cited his being a Manobo as the reason where he could not be sued for polygamy as the said tribe allows for multiple wives.
“Ako po ay miyembro ng isang tribe sa Mindanao kung saan po puwede po sa amin iyong multiple marriages. At iyung nag-go-govern po na batas sa amin ay iyung kultura po ng tribo,” Alvarez, who represents Davao del Norte, said in a radio interview.
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The Speaker openly admitted to having girlfriends other than his wife. His wife also revealed that Alvarez “abandoned” her after become the House Speaker.
Alvarez said that as a Manobo, he is not covered by Sharia law, since it is the Ibra law that governs indigenous people like the Manobos and allows their men to legally have several wives.
“Opo, puwede po iyun sa batas po namin. Ngayon po, kaya ko lang naman po talaga itong tinutulak dahil gusto ko pong i-address iyung mga hinaing po ng karamihan,” he said in an interview on dzBB.
Alvarez is pushing for a law for the dissolution of marriage without the adversarial nature of annulment but with the mutual agreement between the married couple to end their marriage with the court’s approval.
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However, Atty. Soledad Mawis, dean of the Lyceum College of Law, Alvarez, who is also a lawyer, cannot use his tribal past to justify having several wives if he was married to his wife under the Family Code.
“If the Speaker was married under the Family Code and now he is a member of the Manobo tribe, with all due respect, it doesn’t give him the license to live a polygamous life,” Mawis said in an ANC interview.
“It is because the first marriage contracted under the Family Code, must first be dissolved or terminated before he can marry someone else.”
In another instance, Alvarez once again noted his being a Manobo.
“Nabinyagan ako as a Manobo. Nandiyan na ako bago pa lahat nang ito, years back,” he said.
However, he revealed that he married his wife, Emelita Apostol, before a judge.
Emelita previously said that the Speaker was a Catholic when they married.
“Actually when we got married, I know he’s a Catholic but when he converted to IP (Indigenous People) or Manobo, I don’t know. I respect him for that. It’s his faith. Hindi ako nakikialam pagdating sa religion,” she said.
Sources: ( philstar.com , inquirer.net )
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