Originally Posted by
eljean
What is the effect of Divorce on the Philippine marriage?
There are instances when a foreigner (alien) is married to a Filipino in the Philippines, who would subsequently secure divorce in their country (e.g. US) . The question is what would be the effect of the divorce to the Filipino spouse.
Second par. Art. 26 states
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.
This is so to prevent injustice on the part of the Filipino spouse. Had the rule been otherwise, then the Filipino spouse would continue to be married to the alien who is already legally free to marry again based on his or her national law.
This might seem obvious but what actually happened is that this provision was not originally approved by the Civil Code Revision Committee. After President Aquino have signed the Family Code, this provision was presented in the Cabinet Meeting and was approved so, the President promulagated Executive Order No. 227, which includes the second paragraph of Art. 26.
So, even if divorce is not allowed in the Philippines, but because the alien spouse secured one from his/her country, then, such divorce is recognized here in the Philippines and would have an effect of capacitating the Filipino spouse to marry again.
posted by Atty. Magdalena Lepiten at 6:36 AM 0 comments
Thursday, May 05, 2005
A foreigner, married to a Filipina in the Philippines wants to get out of marriage
As a foreigner, you are bound by your national laws in relation to marriage, status and other personal circumstances. Since in the US, divorce is allowed, the foreigner can pursue divorce in the US and secure a decree of divorce there. This decree of divorce will be recognized here in the Philippines by submitting said decree to the local civil registrar.
But another option is filing an annulment or nullity of marriage here in the Philippines. The court will take cognizance of such case as long as it can be shown that the foreigner has residence here in thePhilippines. (Note: Establishing residence in thePhilippines is not difficult and mere allegation in the complaint is usually sufficient for the court to take cognizance of the case). The residence of the foreigner here in the Philippines is crucial because it is the venue of the court of where he shall file the case or the venue can be the place where his spouse is residing. The venue of the case is at the option of the party filing the case - in the petitioner's resident or the respondent's residence. Take note that the place to file the petition is not the place where the marriage was celebrated, but, most of the time the place where the party filing or the petitioner is residing. After the court would have acquired jurisdiction of the petition for annulment or nullity of marriage, the foreigner would have to testify in court, which needs personal appearance.
There is no divorce in the Philippines and there is no"uncontested" divorce where parties would just agree to part ways. The law specifically prohibits collusion between the parties. Because of this, testimony and evidence would have to be presented in Court to show that the petitioner is entitled to annulment/nullity of marriage, even if there is no opposition to the respondent.
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