This case involves recent development in our law on marriage where both spouses were Filipino citizens at the time of their marriage but later on one of them became naturalized as foreign citizen and then obtained a divorce decree abroad.
Facts:
Jess and Marie are husband and wife and who are both Filipino citizens at the time of their marriage. For the betterment of their family, Jess decided to work in Canada. For several years of working thereat, he was naturalized as Canadian citizen entitling him to bring in the country his wife and children, which he did. Their life thereat however became miserable as Jess turned out to be addicted to drugs and maintains an illicit relationship with another Filipina nurse. Their family life became unbearable that eventually led Jess to obtain a divorce decree and thereafter married the Filipina nurse who likewise turned out to be his budding pal in drug addiction.
Questions:
1. Will the divorce decree obtained by Jess be valid capacitating Marie to remarry?
2. Will it make any difference if it was Marie who filed the divorce against Jess?
3. Supposed that at the time the divorce was filed and the decree was obtained, both Jess and Marie were already both naturalized Canadian citizens and thereafter Marie returned in the Philippines and wish to marry her new Filipino boyfriend, can she now marry her new boyfriend?
Answers:
As a rule, absolute divorce obtained abroad is not recognized in the Philippines because our laws relating to family rights and duties or to the status, condition and legal capacity of a person are binding upon all citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad.
With respect however to marriage between a foreign spouse and a Filipino spouse, under Art. 26 of our Family Code, a valid divorce obtained by a foreign spouse legally married to a Philippine citizen that capacitates that foreign spouse to remarry, will likewise capacitates the Filipino spouse. The reason for this is to avoid the absurd situation where the Filipino spouse remains married to the alien spouse who, after obtaining of a divorce, is no longer married to the Filipino spouse.
It is important to understand however that this exception applies only when the one who obtained the divorce is the alien spouse and not the Filipino spouse. Early jurisprudence even held that this exception does not apply to a divorce obtained by a former Filipino who had been naturalized in another country and/or possessing dual citizenship.
In a recent pronouncement however, the Supreme Court had the occasion to depart from this interpretation and held that “Art. 26 should be interpreted to include cases involving parties who, at the time of the celebration of the marriage were Filipino citizens, but later on, one of them becomes naturalized as a foreign citizen and obtains a divorce decree. The Filipino spouse should likewise be allowed to remarry as if the other party was foreigner at the time of the marriage.” In short, in determining whether or not the divorce would come within the above exception, “the reckoning point is the citizenship of the parties at the time a valid divorce is obtained.”(Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, Oct. 5, 2005; 472 SCRA 114)
Going now to question no.1- With this recent development on our law on marriage, the divorce decree obtained by Jess who is a former Filipino is therefore valid and will capacitate Marie to remarry. All that needs to be done is to file a petition in Philippine court for judicial recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment (referring to the divorce decree).
With regard to question no. 2- It must be stressed that both in the former and new rulings, it is imperative that the divorce decree was procured by the foreign spouse and not by the Filipino spouse. It does not matter if the foreign spouse was a foreigner at the time of the celebration of their marriage; or a former Filipino who became naturalized citizen at the time the divorce is obtained; or possessing dual citizenship. Accordingly, a divorce decree obtained by Marie who remained to be Filipino citizen is not valid in the Philippines and will not capacitate her to remarry.
Anent the last question- As held in Orbecido Case, “the reckoning point is the citizenship of the parties at the time a valid divorce is obtained.” It is therefore with much more reason that a divorce decree obtained by spouses who were both former Filipinos and after they were already naturalized citizens of that other country where such divorce is valid and allowed are likewise valid here in the Philippines.
No comments:
Post a Comment