Some interesting comments by lawyer Chi about foreigner property ownership and being at the mercy of their Filipino wives.
In 2018, Dumaguete was cited as a retiree-friendly city and it is incumbent upon the local government to help the more than 400 foreign retirees here and in other parts of the province, Remollo said. Seems to be a lot more than 400 retired here.
“We can never be wrong in choosing your beautiful city for this collaborative endeavor, being a city of gentle people with a walkable land area, with a youthful seafront, without traffic, and (having a) low crime rate as reasons enough for the retiree expats to permanently settle here,” he said. so he has never been here!
Mayor Remollo said “Many are circumventing the same by putting their properties in the name of their Filipino spouses, he said.” I don’t think “circumventing” is the right choice of words; marriage is not just a business contract. In American English, circumventing almost implies a legally questionable act. It is completely legal for one’s wife to purchase land and live there with her spouse who jointly owns the house with her. If you have a good marriage, which I have to believe, most foreigners do, who cares? Not all but most husbands can trust their wives. Certainly he doesn’t speak well of the Filipino culture, warning retirees that the Filipino wives might leave them and they are left with nothing! Perhaps in partnership with Dumaguete, PRA should make a public warning to SRRV visa applicants on their website. Watch out for those wives! If the marriage does go on the rocks or even if it doesn’t, the wife can always sell the land that the house is sitting on, however, the buyer of such land would have a legal standoff with a foreigner who refused to give up his share of the house. The husband could create a big problem by not signing off his share of the house if he wasn’t satisfied with the sale to the point where any potential buyer would be discouraged and walk away. There are separate declarations for the house and the land; only the land is officially titled in the wife’s and the house, marital property, is only covered by a bill of sale. This issue is not peculiar to the Philippines; in most or perhaps all of the adjoining countries where retirement is popular, non-citizens cannot own land. Hong Kong and Taiwan are possible exceptions, not sure. The mayor is announcing this great partnership with PRA by using his opportunity to warn foreigners about marrying Filipina women who might leave them out in the cold. Not too good at marketing and he is a Filipino so he should know! Nor exactly a way to welcome foreigners to the paradise PRA calls Dumaguete:-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Couple thoughts: the MOA says sometime in our lifetime, a desk MAY be established. If I can do my SRRV work with the Cebu PRA by email and LBC, I can wait.. As far as Filipina wives, some friends got a lawyer to work up a USUFRUCT for them which gave the foreigner husband LIFETIME residency in the house, which, when attached to the DEED would make it very difficult to sell the land. Not sure of all the details, should check an attorney.
