OFWs discover divorce shortcut in Guam – lawyer

There is not any divorce within the Philippines, however the Household Code permits Filipinos married to foreigners to ask native courts to acknowledge their divorce obtained overseas

MANILA, Philippines – Some Filipinos discovered a strategy to avail of divorce overseas simply.

Household regulation knowledgeable Katrina Legarda, who serves as an amicus curiae (pal of the courtroom), revealed that some abroad Filipino staff (OFW) go to Guam for divorce — separation that might be acknowledged within the Philippines afterward.

“We found, your honor, that Guam has a seven-day residence requirement solely and you’ll file a divorce. Seven days. So many Filipinos who’re our OFWs had been there doing that, your honor,” Legarda advised the Supreme Courtroom (SC) justices in the course of the oral arguments regarding a overseas divorce case on Tuesday, August 19.

“They usually come again to this nation having obtained a divorce in Guam and the one requirement there may be that the Filipino partner right here has to signal an settlement that they aren’t objecting to the separation of property and the custody and assist of the youngsters.”

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There’s no divorce within the Philippines, solely declaration of nullity of marriage and annulment.

Nonetheless, the nation acknowledges divorce obtained overseas. Beneath Article 26, Paragraph 2 of the Household Code, Filipinos beforehand married to foreigners can ask Philippine courts to acknowledge their overseas divorce.

“So there are various OFWs who’re doing this, however in fact they’re not telling the courts this. However it’s a actuality, your honor, so whether it is deleterious, it’s as a result of there isn’t any divorce regulation,” Legarda stated.

“And I feel maybe it’s time for the courtroom to interpret Article 26, Paragraph 2 as together with a mechanism by which to guard the Filipino right here and overseas,” she added.

The case that triggered the oral arguments entails a Filipino nationwide with twin citizenship who obtained divorce whereas abroad. The stated Filipino nationwide acquired overseas citizenship by naturalization and later reacquired Philippine citizenship.

The unnamed petitioner sought his divorce to be acknowledged regionally, however a Nueva Ecija courtroom junked his petition — thus, the case reaching the Excessive Courtroom.

As raised by the justices and amici curiae in the course of the oral arguments and in pleadings, the petition nevertheless lacks essential details, resembling to whom the petitioner is presently married to and different issues associated to the petitioner’s standing in the US.

The SC will proceed the listening to on October 21.

Why don’t we’ve divorce regulation?

In her first oral arguments as the federal government’s major authorized counsel, Solicitor Normal Darlene Marie Berberabe defined that there isn’t any divorce regionally not due to statutory prohibition, however fairly as a result of insurance policies don’t present a mechanism to avail oneself of absolute divorce.

“I hope additionally that our Congress can be on the way in which to go a laws on divorce. As we’ve heard some time in the past, it’s only the Vatican and our nation which do not need divorce,” the Solicitor Normal defined.

“And if we comply with authorized realism as a philosophy, we must be acknowledging that the instances has modified. And maybe the time is now opportune to revisit the premises of the Household Code and the intent that’s expressed by the Committee on Civil Code and the Household Code,” Berberabe added.

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Former Far Jap College regulation dean Mel Sta. Maria had the identical stance as Berberabe, including that there isn’t any regulation that disallows absolute divorce between two Filipinos within the Philippines or overseas.

Sta. Maria, who additionally sits as an amicus curiae within the case, explains that the supply of three native treatments to dissolve marriage “proves that Philippine public coverage has all the time been open to the severance of marital ties between Filipinos.”

“Article 26 of the Household Code and the Shari’ah regulation (Muslim regulation) as well as reveal that absolute divorce per se just isn’t offensive to our tradition, custom, and morals,” the amicus curiae defined.

“Each our Structure and Household Code, the general public coverage assertion on the safety of marriage, doesn’t expressly check with a prohibition in opposition to any sort of divorce or any hazard thereof in explicit, however to the establishment of marriage generally,” Sta. Maria added. – Rappler.com