Filipinos who married in the Philippines but sought divorce abroad remain bound by Philippine laws, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna said on Tuesday.
In the continuation of oral arguments, legal experts invited as amici curiae, or ‘friends of the court,’ weighed in again on whether a Filipino who married under Philippine law may remarry after securing a divorce in a foreign jurisdiction and then acquiring a new citizenship.
Azcuna stressed that the nationality principle prevails over a foreign court’s judgment when a Filipino who married in the Philippines eventually obtained divorce abroad.
He cited the Constitution, which he said clearly states that marriage is an ‘inviolable social institution,’ adding that the ‘bedrock principle of nationality will apply’ if both spouses were Filipinos at the time of divorce.
The high tribunal is conducting oral arguments on the case of a Filipino man who is seeking a reversal of a lower court’s ruling. He wants the divorce he obtained in 2010 in the United States to be recognized as well in the Philippines.
A green card holder at that time, he was granted US citizenship in 2019 but reacquired Filipino citizenship a year later, thus becoming a dual citizen.
Article 15 of the Civil Code of the Philippines states that ‘laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, conditions and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad.’
But other legal experts interpret this ‘nationality principle’ differently.
Double existence
Former Far Eastern University Dean Mel Sta. Maria reiterated the absurdity of current rules, which recognize foreign divorces only if a Filipino is married to a foreigner, but deny the same right to two Filipinos who divorce abroad.
During an exchange with Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Sta. Maria warned of the impact of continuing not to recognize foreign divorce.
‘[I]t will continue a double existence. It will be a perpetual problem; a double existence, a split-screen existence, a systematic exclusion from the universal singularity of status,’ he pointed out.
Sta. Maria added that refusing to recognize valid foreign decrees subjects citizens to a ‘state-mandated schizophrenia,’ violating the constitutional mandate that values human dignity and guarantees full respect for human rights.