Foreign divorce

Dear Atty. Nico,

I am a current divorcée. My ex-husband is a South Korean national and we got a divorce decree “through mutual agreement.” The national law of my ex-husband recognizes such kind of divorce, as evidenced by a Divorce Certificate issued by the Embassy of South Korea. Likewise, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila provided an Authentication Certificate and a Certificate of Acceptance of Notification of Divorce.

What is my remedy in order for my divorce decree to be accepted in the Philippines, knowing that the law herein does not acknowledge absolute divorce?

Chona

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Dear Chona,

Your remedy is to file a petition for judicial recognition of the foreign divorce.

In the case of Republic vs Ng, the Court stated that “it bears accentuating that Philippine laws do not provide for absolute divorce; hence, our courts cannot grant it. Nevertheless, jurisdiction is conferred on Philippine courts to extend the effect of a foreign divorce decree to a Filipino spouse without undergoing trial to determine validity of the dissolution of the marriage.”

Article 26 of the Civil Code provides: (1) All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5), and (6), 36, 37 and 38. (2) 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 likewise have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

In the case of Galapon vs Republic, a Filipino and a South Korean secured a divorce decree by mutual agreement in South Korea, the trial court granted the petition for judicial recognition of the foreign divorce but the appellate court reversed such ruling. Upon elevation of the case to this Court, it reinstated the trial court’s ruling and held that the Court of Appeals (CA) erred in denying the recognition of the divorce decree obtained by mutual agreement.

In resolving the controversy, the Court centered on the interpretation of Article 26 (2) as applied to divorce decrees obtained jointly by the foreign spouse and a Filipino citizen. Applying the same in your case, such circumstance would favor you since there has already been a decided case on the recognition of a divorce decree by “mutual agreement” obtained by a Filipino citizen and a South Korean national.

Atty. Nico A. Antonio