FORMER deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and Buhay Partylist Rep. Lito Atienza urged the Senate to carefully deliberate on the absolute divorce bill.

"Do not join the stampede created by the divorce bill because that is artificial; it is not what Filipinos see as the solution to their marital problems. Approving it would violate the basic law of the land — The Constitution," Atienza, a former Manila mayor, said in a statement.