SC urged to recognize foreign divorces to reduce broken marriages

MANILA, Philippines — One way of resolving cases of “limping marriages,” or a union legitimate in one country but nullified in another, among Filipinos is by recognizing foreign divorce under Philippine law.

This was the insights of family law and private international law experts, who were invited as amicus curiae, “or friends of the court,” on Tuesday’s oral arguments on the petition for review on certiorari on recognition of foreign divorce.

The petition before the Supreme Court was filed by a Filipino who sought the reversal of a Nueva Ecija court decision that denied his bid for recognition of the dissolution of his first marriage with a fellow Filipino.

He obtained the divorce decree in 2010 in the United States as a green card holder. By 2019, he was granted American citizenship. But he reacquired his Filipino citizenship a year later, thereby becoming a dual citizen.

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The timeline by which the petitioner obtained the divorce and acquired a foreign citizenship is central to the issue of whether Philippine courts should recognize divorce granted by a court overseas.

“The phenomenon of limping marriages can be resolved, can be addressed by the court. Although legislation would be one way of resolving this, it can also be subject to judicial reinterpretation of the existing laws,” said University of the Philippines College of Law professor Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan.

Limping marriages, noted Pangalangan, “undermines the stability of civil statuses and family relations.”

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For Mel Sta. Maria, former dean of the Far Eastern University College of Law, refusing to recognize foreign divorces, especially involving a spouse who later gained foreign citizenship, would be discriminatory.

“If you look at this from the perspective of Article 26 (2) and our policy today on disallowing recognition. Our policy today, Your Honor, I’m sorry to say, borders on racism, xenocentric, and it mirrors a colonial mentality where the natives have less rights. And if they want to have more rights, they have to associate themselves with a foreigner,” he pointed out to the Supreme Court.

Sta. Maria was referring to Article 26(2) of the Family Code, which allows both spouses who are the subject of a divorce to remarry, but only if one of them is a foreigner.

Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe, for its part, urged the high court to dismiss the petition because the Family Code provision does not apply in the case. Citing the nationality principle, she noted that both spouses were both Filipinos at the time the divorce was filed in the US.

Berberabe, however, noted a “considerable number” of petitions for recognition of foreign divorce among Filipinos in recent years, based on government data, that could be resolved by the crafting of new laws.

“We are not aware if that is a faithful representation of the actual numbers, but based also on the testimony of some amici [curiae], it seems that there is a considerable number that needs immediate attention by our Congress to address the issues that are affecting our other Filipino members,” she told the high court.

The oral arguments on foreign divorce recognition will resume on July 14. /cb