Whoever files for divorce abroad is immaterial in recognition of foreign divorce

DearPAO, My marriage with a foreign er ended when I filed a divorce and the same was granted by the court in his country. I am now living in the Philippines and, in one occasion, I asked my relative working with the local civil registrar previous marriage. He told me to file a petition in court for the recognition but he claimed that the petition may not be granted since it is a requirement that the divorce decree should have been filed by the alien spouse and not the Filipino spouse. Is this correct?

Denice

Dear Denice,

The provision of law governing your situation is found under Article 26 of the Family Code of the Philippines, which states that:

“xxx.W here 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.”

The above-stated law mentioned a divorce obtained by the alien spouse, but it does not specifically require that it should be the alien spouse who obtained the divorce. This was explained in Nulladavs The Honorable Civil Registrar of Manila,etal. (GR 224548, Jan. 23, 2019), where the Supreme Court through Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., stated that:

“Paragraph 2 of Article 26 speaks of“a divorce xx xv al idly obtained abroad by the alien capacitating him or her to remarry.” Based on a clear and plain reading of the provision, it only requires that there be a divorce validly obtained abroad. The letter of the law does not demand that the alien spouse should be the one who initiated the proceeding wherein the divorce decree was granted. It does not distinguish whether the Filipino spouse is the petitioner or the respondent in the foreign divorce proceeding. The Court is bound by the words of the statute; neither can We put words in the mouths of the lawmakers. “The legislature is presumed to know that meaning of the words, to have used words advisedly, and to have expressed its intent by the use of such words as are found in the statute. Verba legis non est recedendum, or from the words of a statute there should be no departure. xx xx

“To reiterate, the purpose of

Paragraph 2 of Article 26 is to avoid the absurd situation where the Filipino spouse remains married to the alien spouse who, after a foreign divorce decree that is effective in the country where it was rendered, is no longer married to the Filipino spouse. The provision is a corrective measure to address an anomaly where the Filipino spouse is tied to the marriage while the foreign spouse is free to marry under the laws of his or her country. Whether the Filipino spouse initiated the foreign divorce proceeding or not, a favorable decree dissolving the marriage bond and capacitating his or her alien spouse to remarry will have the same result: the Filipino spouse will effectively be without a husband or wife. A Filipino who initiated a foreign divorce proceeding is in the same place and in like circumstance as a Filipino who is at the receiving end of an alien initiated proceeding. Therefore, the subject provision should not make a distinction. In both instance, it is extended as a means to recognize the residual effect of the foreign divorce decree on Filipinos whose marital ties to their alien spouses are severed by operation of the latter’s national law (Emphasis ours).”

Thus, your relative was not correct in saying that the divorce should have been filed by the foreign spouse so that the petition will be granted. The second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family Code of the Philippines requires that there is a divorce decree validly obtained abroad, and it is now immaterial as to who between the spouses obtained the divorce. You may file a petition for recognition of foreign divorce as a means to recognize the residual effect of the foreign divorce to Filipino spouse.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Editor’ s note: Dear PA O is a daily column of the Public Attorney’ s Acostamaybesenttodearpao@manilatimes.net.