As of mid-2005, Malta and the Philippines remain two of the very few nations left that do not allow legal divorce.
In March 2005, a congresswoman in the Philippines published a bill to legalize divorce. A previous attempt had been made between 2001-2004 but died in Congress without a vote. The measure faces opposition from the Catholic Church. Divorce had been legalized for a time during the Japanese occupation of the Filipino-Japanese but it was illegal again afterwards. One of the only ways to void a marriage is to use "creative" measures, such as declare one of the spouses psychologically incapacitated...and under Article 36 of the Family Code, the psychological incapacitation can take place after the marriage.
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