Divorce Law - Philippines

Philippines

Philippine law, in general, does not provide for divorce inside the Philippines. The only exception is with respect to Muslims, who are allowed to divorce in certain circumstances. For those not of the Muslim faith, the law only allows annulment of marriages. Article 26 of the Family Code of the Philippines does provide that

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 have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

This would seem to apply only if the spouse obtaining the foreign divorce is an alien. However, the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared in the case of RP vs. Orbecidio

we are unanimous in our holding that Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code (E.O. No. 209, as amended by E.O. No. 227), should be interpreted to allow a Filipino citizen, who has been divorced by a spouse who had acquired foreign citizenship and remarried, also to remarry.

Complications can arise, however. For example, if a legally married Filipino citizen obtains a divorce outside of the Philippines, that divorce would not be recognized inside the Philippines. If that person (now unmarried outside of the Philippines) then remarries outside of the Philippines, he or she could arguably be considered in the Philippines as having committed the crime of bigamy under Philippine Laws. The above complications will not arise if the legally married Filipino citizen obtains foreign citizenship first, then secures a foreign divorce decree.

Also, Article 15 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides that

Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad.

This can lead to complications regarding distribution of conjugal property, inheritance rights, etc., etc.

In Article 26, paragraph 2 a number of questions can be raised with respect to the operation of this provision, to wit:

1. Is there a need for a judicial decree in Philippine courts to declare the Filipino spouse qualified to remarry? The Family Code has no explicit provision to that effect, unlike in cases of void marriages and of a remarriage in case of absence of one of the spouses amounting to presumptive death (Art. 40 and 41, Family Code) where a court decree is required.
2. Is Art. 26, par. 2 applicable to foreign divorces obtained before the effectivity of the Family Code in view of Art. 256?
3. What if the Filipino spouse does not intend to remarry, what is the status of any children they may have after the divorce decree? Does the Filipino spouse have a right to demand support from his/her former alien spouse? What is his/her status with respect to his/her former foreign spouse? Can he/she claim share of property or income acquired by the former foreign spouse.

The process of the divorce annulment is an expensive one; it cost about 100,000–200,000 pesos or 2000–4,000 US dollars, which is about a year's wages for a typical Filipino. The process usually takes 1–2 years.

One of the steps in the process is a psychological assessment for use or reason of annulment. This costs an additional 10,000–15,000 pesos or 200–300 US dollars.

Another step in the process is an interview with a court appointed social worker to eliminate possible "collusion" among the parties involved especially if there are children. Children under the age of 7 are awarded to the mother. There are no standards in child support or support to spouse to maintain her previous standard in society.

The general assumption for this reason for annulment is that the government is influenced by the Catholic religion and continues to be advised by their leadership rather than a democratic process. However, this conclusion is not necessarily true, and even under the administration of non-Catholic leaders, divorce continues to be a non-issue among majority of Filipinos.

It can be said, instead, that Filipinos (Catholic or not) have an aversion to divorce as they view the family to be sacrosanct and that divorce, in their perception, is absolutely destructive of this. General Filipino perception of divorce is based on the "no-fault" divorce prevalent in some US states which, in their view, is absurd since a divorce (or a separation of partners, at the least) should only be considered if there is a breach in the marriage and not the "whimsical" drive of no-fault divorces.

There is also a lack of general clamor for divorce to be made legal and all attempts to ratify it into law have failed. Intellectuals and some social and civic groups have tried to appeal to the masses to change its perception of divorce but this has failed from time to time.

Filipino law, as stated above, does make some concession to Muslims, though.