Best Posts in Thread: Laws You Should Know About

Filipino's can not initialize a divorce which means two Filipino's could never be divorced in the eyes of the Philippines. They can go to a country like the US and get a divorce which some have done and then remarry in the US yet if they ever return to the Philippines the 2nd marriage is considered invalid and they are considered married to two different people.

But like also said foreigners are not bound by Filipino Family Code as far as divorce goes which I stated earlier. Like your friends I have done this process myself.

What matters is if you had your marriage certificate filed with NSO in the Philippines. You couldn't legally get married in the US in a civil wedding and then come to the Philippines and have another marriage in the Philippines without getting a divorce from the first one (even if the same partner). You need to have your embassy clear you for marriage stating your not currently married (sure, you could lie but lets assume law abiding people). You could however have a religious wedding ceremony w/o the actual paperwork if you could find an appropriate religious person who is willing to do it. At that point it comes to if you file your foreign marriage with the NSO which would only be suggested if one of the partners if a Filipino. If one partner is a Filipino then by filing with the NSO they get bound by Filipino laws.

However even so that foreign spouse could still file for a divorce outside of the Philippines or in their own country and receive it. They would then for the US for instance need to have said divorce sent through the Department of State for verification and then to the Philippine Embassy in the US to be recognized as valid. Once that is done one would file a foreign recognition of divorce here in the Philippines and wait for a hearing where the judge pretty much asks if the divorce was done legally for the place received and make sure that it was the foreign spouse who filed it and then sign off. The court then forwards the order and a copy of the foreign divorce to the NSO and said marriage certificate is amended and one is then free to remarry in the Philippines.

One must remember that a Filipino can NOT petition for divorce even if they have foreign citizenship (unless renounce Philippine citizenship which may work). It must be done by the foreign partner and in some cases where allowed the Filipino can sign no contest to the divorce. It gets sticky at times also if its considered a jointly filed mutual divorce.

Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree | Philippine e-Legal Forum

 

I found this link that describes that process. It sounds like it's more of a court/judicial thing than just NSO registration, but it does appear that the net result is as you've said, the foreign divorce is recognized for BOTH parties (as long as one was a foreigner to start).
Recognition of foreign divorce decree in Philippine courts (1)

 

Just to chime in with my limited experience in this area, my wife, who acquired her American citizenship a couple of years ago, went to the Philippines embassy in New York to reacquire her Philippines citizenship a few months ago. A very good friend, Filipina, married in the Philippines to an American, but now divorced in the US, accompanied her to do the same thing. She was reminded that she remained married in the eyes of Philippines law, and that her new Philippines citizenship documents must reflect that fact and include her (ex)spouse's name.

 

Well folks,

There are so many places around the world with rather idiotic laws still on the books it would amaze many of you. Just one small example, in Westerly, Rhode Island it is still illegal to pass thru an intersection at a speed of over 10 MPH without having a flagman in front of your vehicle. That came about with some of the first automobiles well over 100 years ago.

So, it should not surprise anyone that any community, state, province or country has laws that seem foolish. Many have not been used in a century, but the shame is they are still on the books. And, yes, you could get bit by them as they are valid, but unsound laws.

Jon von Kessel